Suns ‘swing behind’ King for kinder AFL run home
Murray Wenzel |
Gold Coast bosses have bullishly defended the timing of Stuart Dew’s sacking and say they “haven’t given up” on the AFL club’s season.
Dew was voted out of the Suns’ job on Monday night, assistant coach Steven King taking over ahead of Saturday’s game against St Kilda on the Gold Coast.
The Suns’ 10 wins last year was a club best, helping Dew secure a two-year contract extension.
With key forward Ben King fit again the messaging this year was clear on their pursuit of a clear objective was a maiden finals campaign, 13 seasons after the Suns entered the league.
At 6-6 entering the bye, thanks to buoyant victories over Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs in Darwin, that remained on the cards despite a long-term injury to captain Touk Miller.
But a horror loss to Carlton and resounding back-to-back defeats to top sides Collingwood and Port Adelaide in the month that followed forced the board to take action.
Two-time premiership player Dew’s axing came less than a week after chief executive Mark Evans publicly backed the coach.
Evans rubbished reports Dew’s exit was imminent, comments that naturally prompted criticism when the coach was given his marching orders on Tuesday.
It leaves the Suns needing six wins from the last seven games to meet the 13-win threshold that will likely earn the team a finals berth.
And while it sounds far-fetched, Gold Coast’s schedule and Miller’s timely return does offer a glimmer of hope.
After Saturday’s clash against sixth-placed St Kilda, the Suns only face one team currently placed better than ninth on the ladder.
“We feel still think that we’ve got things to do this season,” Evans said.
“So we’re not saying we give up on this season.
“We are saying once we’ve identified that Stuey wasn’t going to be the ongoing coach for us, the best thing to do with that was to deal with it immediately.
King brings his own history of premiership success, first as a player with Geelong and then as an assistant at the Bulldogs.
“The players will quickly swing behind that, because it’s important that we show the world that we care about what happens across the rest of this season and get as much success in that period as we can,” Evans said.
Installed as chairman earlier this year, long-time board member Bob East said that “it did crystallise over the weeks and months that there were gaps”.
“I’m not about to run a commentary or public commentary on performance appraisal, but it was very clear that we needed to close the gap,” he said.
“And as I said, eventually there is a decision to be made, and you need to be true to all stakeholders by executing on that decision.”
SUNS’ RUN HOME:
* Saints (sixth)
* Giants (10th)
* Brisbane Lions (third)
* Crows (ninth)
* Swans (15th)
* Blues (11th)
* Kangaroos (17th).
AAP
