Atkins, Flanders step up, Suns respond to Dew sacking

Murray Wenzel | July 15, 2023

Gold Coast have spread the load in a strong response to the mid-week sacking of coach Stuart Dew to beat St Kilda by 26 points.

The Suns coach was axed during his sixth season in charge on Tuesday, club bosses describing a gap between expectation and reality that they believed had widened.

The playing group responded with a pressure-filled, even performance to shut down the fifth-placed Saints, who hung around but never truly threatened after the hosts jumped to a 19-0 lead.

The 11.11 (77) to 8.3 (51) victory moved the Suns to 8-9 for the season.

Despite horror losses to top two sides Collingwood and Port Adelaide in the past fortnight, they’re still within reach of a maiden finals appearance.

With six rounds to play they need just two more wins to equal last season’s career-best campaign and potentially enter the top eight, although they’ll likely need three more than that to consolidate their finals spot.

Jack Lukosius kicked four goals while Rory Atkins (32 disposals, two goals) had his best game at the club in the injured Lachie Weller’s absence and Sam Flanders (33 disposals, five clearances) continued his strong patch of form.

Bailey Humphrey, Ben Long, Brandon Ellis, Wil Powell all made a difference and ensured the work wasn’t left to the core of Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and fit-again Touk Miller.

St Kilda fell to 9-8 as they cling to a spot in the top eight, Cooper Sharman a standout kicking three of his side’s goals.

St Kilda scored just one point in the first quarter and twice kicked set shots out on the full.

Brad Hill did his best to spark something on the road with some brave, powerful running.

But too often their raids were broken down and the Suns were hungrier when the ball was up for grabs.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Brad Crouch both had 28 touches while Jack Steele made eight tackles.