SUNS Senior Coach Stuart Dew says he was proud of his team’s effort to back up the Round 2 performance with another dominant display against the Adelaide Crows on Sunday night.
The 53-point win was Gold Coast’s first-ever AFL win over Adelaide and the club’s second since returning from the COVID break.
Dew said the performance was a credit to the way the team approached the match after the similarly impressive win over the Eagles last week.
“Last week was exactly what we wanted to do and then we set ourselves a challenge to repeat that,” Dew said post-match.
“I think the maturity on the back of last week of winning a game against a premiership team from a couple of years ago and the way they dealt with that and walked into the club Monday, we set them for that.
“To be able to execute again tonight (was pleasing), and also there are some things that come out of tonight that we can absolutely work on some real areas of improvement.”
Dew said the internal messaging from the club was for every player to play their role in the team’s win.
It paid off on Sunday, with an even team performance resulting in another consistent display.
“That’s what we’re chasing, the absolute consistency on-field because we’ve had consistency off-field,” Dew said.
“We’ve got stability, we’ve got commitment and we’ve definitely got the guys willing to work.
“So it is about delivering now and just putting a premium on that performance.”
Round 3 was the first time the SUNS were able to play a match in front of the club’s loyal members.
Dew said it made a difference to the players on the field to hear the support from the stands.
“We’re glad that our supporters were able to see that tonight,” he said.
“Having 2000 of them here, it was fantastic for the players but really fantastic for them.
“Hopefully they got a lot of joy out of that and can see some exciting footy.
“We’re trying to play an exciting brand of footy that’s high pressure and high speed; sometimes we didn’t get it right tonight but when we did we really did connect.”
With two wins from three matches, and a percentage of 133, the SUNS currently sit third on the AFL ladder, but Dew was adamant there would be no room for complacency.
“We don’t want to predict and we don’t want to look back,” he said.
“We’ve got the Fremantle footy club in six days and that’s going to be an important step for us again.
“We’ve seen that form is up and down a little bit in the AFL so if we think that we’ve got there and we’ve turned the corner, I feel like we’ve got to have the attitude that we’ve never turned the corner and we’re just hungry for the next contest.
“We’re trying to impart that on the players and they’re grabbing onto it currently.”
