In a week where the playing future of former Gold Coaster and Adelaide forward Kurt Tippett has been the topic of most AFL conversations, former Hawthorn premiership player and GC SUNS hard man Campbell Brown said he would love to see the power forward running out at Metricon Stadium next season when asked if he would like to see Tippett return to the Gold Coast.
“He is a fantastic footballer and he would fit right in here at the SUNS, obviously with being from the Gold Coast and having had a brother play here last year so if he decides to come to the SUNS we would be more than happy.”
While the GC SUNS have shown a commitment to nurturing their stable of young stars, Brown was confident the presence of the 203cm giant would significantly improve the Club’s list should he decide to return home at season’s end.
“Big power forwards they are hard to come by in the AFL and yeah he would be fantastic.”
“Sam Day and Tom Lynch have given us some really good structure this year and competed well, but another big guy would add another dimension there to the mix and take a bit of pressure off some of those young guys.”
Closer to home and Brown admitted he had a few scores to settle when the Gold Coast SUNS run out onto the MCG for the third time this season.
While Brown missed the GC SUNS second clash against the Hawks at Metricon Stadium last season, he had carefully tucked away a few memories from the Launceston round thirteen match against his former team mates.
"Buddy (Lance Franklin) got me a ripper in the back pocket there and I remember that and I hope he plays, I hope he comes back from his hammy."
Brown said he had already received a barrage of text messages from a number of close friends at the Hawks, however had refrained from responding to most, keen instead to let them feel his presence on Sunday.
I am still very close to a lot of the Hawks boys and they have text me already and said I am in the gun and that they are going to put a bit of work into me.
“It’s a fantastic game for us, they are one of the benchmark sides of the competition so we are really looking forward to getting down to Melbourne and playing on the MCG again, we want to redeem ourselves a little bit from the performance we put in a couple of weeks ago against Melbourne.”
Despite Hawthorn being in strong form currently a Premiership contender, Brown remains confident his decision to join the Gold Coast SUNS was the right move and that he has no regrets.
“No absolutely not, that was one of the decisions I had to make, when I decided to leave I knew they were in that Premiership window and knew they were a chance last year or this year to contend and you make that decision and once you have it’s final and no regrets at all.”
While the Gold Coast have made significant inroads on field this season in regards to personal and team development, at twenty eight Brown isn’t sure he’ll be in the selection mix when the GC SUNS first window of success is blown open.
“That would be nice, but realistically that’s a few years away and I will be long into retirement by then I think, but you never know.”
While the bookies have the injury-ravaged Gold Coast at long odds to trouble the top four Hawks, Brown said the players were determined to ensure they finish the 2012 season in the best possible fashion.
Three games to go, it’s pretty important that we finish the year on a really good note and then try and take some of that momentum into the pre season, but from a players point of view we are only focussing on Hawthorn this week.
Warm up for the clash against the Hawks with SUNS TV showing on Seven Mate from 4pm.
Get your tickets to the Gold Coast SUNS final home match of the 2012 regular season against Carlton at Metricon Stadium on Saturday, August 25 by clicking here.
