Costly turnovers were a deciding factor in Gold Coast’s match against Melbourne last weekend, but this weekend SUNS Assistant Coach Dean Solomon believes it’s the contest which will be crucial to the result.
The SUNS come up against Sydney at the SCG on Saturday afternoon and Solomon said the team had addressed what went wrong in Round 6 and were looking to nullify the Swans’ strengths.
“We just went back and had a look at some of those turnovers,” Solomon told the @realty Coaches Chat.
“We’re not jumping at shadows but we’ve done a little bit of work on our ball movement.
“But mainly our game is based off the contest so a lot of our training today was based around the contest just looking at the layers there and also team defence.
“It was a good balance at training but we definitely analysed those turnovers and we’re looking to rectify those this weekend.”
When looking at the potential Swans line-up, Solomon knows it’s going to be no easy task to gain the ascendancy around the contest.
“Their defence is very strong no doubt about that but their contest work has always been (good),” he said.
“You think of Sydney Swans for the last 10-15 years, it’s all around the contest.
“This is going to be an absolute slog, it’s going to be a well-earned win.
“We know what’s coming and the Sydney Swans are a very tough unit anywhere, anytime so we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Solomon has overseen the forward line in 2020 and was proud to see one of his pupils Izak Rankine make his AFL debut last weekend.
It was an impactful performance for a first-gamer but Solomon was most impressed with Rankine’s team-first attitude.
“I think Dewy summed it up pretty well earlier in the week in and around his contest work and his pressure work,” Solomon said.
“We know that Izak’s got a lot of talent with the ball in hand but we just want him to be consistent with his pressure and the rest will flow from there.
“We’re really happy for him but the opposition will do a lot more research into him now going forward and he’ll find that challenging but it’s something he’s prepared to work at.”
