Gold Coast SUNS Senior Coach Stuart Dew and his coaching staff have plenty to take out of the side’s 13-point victory over the Dockers.
“We’re all really impressed with how they all stuck at it, although the numbers tell a different story, it wasn’t perfect tonight,” said Dew.
“The way they were able to grind it out, and obviously late, with the game on the line we were under the pump and they were coming pretty hard.”
“I think the belief is there and probably what we’ve been emphasising is their habits regardless of what the score is.”
“The last couple of weeks, we’ve shown clips from the last two minutes and how important it is to play the game out and not assume the game is done and to take the foot off the pedal.”
On paper, the fixture tilted heavily in the SUNS favour, but it was far from it with a disciplined Dockers side making the most of the opportunities they had.
“Lots for us to work on but Fremantle were really organised and really hard to play against, particularly in the first quarter and the first half.”
“Credit to Fremantle in that department, they forced the issue on that, and we were able to regroup a little bit at half time and push back.
“There was frustration (at times), but I think that’s a good thing.”
“We’ve lifted our expectations and I think the players could feel that, they were frustrated and we were undisciplined tonight which we don’t want a repeat of that because that can cost you the game.”
Looking ahead to next weekend, a Round 5 clash against Geelong and the SUNS first match on the road in 2020.
“We’re looking forward to it, we can’t wait.”
“We love getting away together, although it’s going to be down and back that’s okay, we’re familiar with that and we’re confident.
“We’ve just got to make sure we recover well and reload again to go next week and look forward to that challenge.
“They’re a really strong football club and they play well down there; we’ll have a look at them tomorrow and then get into it on Monday.”
Next week’s Round 5 fixture at GHMBA stadium will be at 4:35pm AEST and available to watch on Fox Footy and 7mate in QLD.