There used to be a time when a flight to Tullarmarine Airport in Melbourne would send shivers down the collective spine of the Gold Coast SUNS. And with very good reason.  On their first nine trips to AFL headquarters they posted nine losses by an average of 80 points, including a 139-point loss to Essendon at Etihad Stadium and a 150-point loss to Geelong at Simonds Stadium.

They broke through for a win over Melbourne in round 7, 2013, on their 10^th trip to Victoria, but by the end of their third season in the competition their record south of the Murray was 1-13, and they had a collective percentage in Victoria of 54.

Not any more. This year they have won two from two in Victoria, beating Melbourne by 40 points at the MCG in round 5 and on their last visit south accounted for North Melbourne by 43 points at Etihad Stadium.

On Saturday they will head to Coolangatta Airport for another flight south full of confidence and expectation that a second consecutive win at Etihad and a third consecutive victory in Victoria is a huge possibility.

Sam Day will head the expedition as he becomes the 11^th SUNS player to post 50 games.  The 21-year-old key forward will join Gary Ablett, Trent McKenzie, Jarrod Harbrow, Danny Stanley, Matt Shaw, David Swallow, Dion Prestia, the retired Jared Brennan, Michael Rischitelli and Harley Bennell in the SUNS’ 50-Game Club.

He will be looking to continue an upward performance spiral which typifies perfectly the measured growth of the AFL’s 17^th AFL club.  In his first 10 games Day averaged 7.2 disposals, 0.4 goals, 2.5 marks, 0.3 contested marks and 0.1 marks inside the 50m scoring zone.  By his third lot of 10 games his key performance indicators had jumped to averages of 11.0 disposals, 0.5 goals, 3.9 marks, 0.7 contested marks and 0.5 marks inside 50.

In his fifth 10-game block, which will be completed on Sunday, he currently averages 10.6 disposals, 1.3 goals, 4.0 marks, 1.0 contested marks and 1.2 marks inside 50, despite spending some time playing in defence last year.

Unlike some teammates, Day has enjoyed playing in Melbourne. He had a career-best 19 possessions in the breakout victory over Melbourne last year, and 17 possessions in what coach Guy McKenna regarded the club’s best win over North a fortnight ago.

SUNS captain Gary Ablett, having turned 30 on Wednesday, will become the club’s fourth-oldest player against St.Kilda, joining Nathan Bock, Josh Fraser and Matthew Warnock as the only players to have played for the club beyond their 30^th birthday.

Trent McKenzie is the only SUNS player who has played in all seven matches games at Etihad – one more than Ablett, Bennell, Prestia, Rischitelli, Luke Russell and Swallow.

Ablett and Dixon share the honour of being the SUNS’ leading goal-kicker at Etihad with seven, while Ablett (196) heads the Gold Coast possession count at the domed stadium from Prestia (128), Bennell (120) and McKenzie (115).

Regarding individual performances, Ablett’s four goals against North a fortnight ago is a club record at the venue along with his 40 possessions against St.Kilda in Round 2, 2012.