‘Catch and cook’: stacked Suns the reel deal
Murray Wenzel |
When Christian Petracca first arrived on the Gold Coast he had a burning question for Daniel Rioli.
Like the three-time Richmond AFL premiership winner, the departing Melbourne star and Norm Smith Medallist wanted to make a fist of his new life as a Sun.
“When he got here he wanted a crab pot and was asking me what bait he needed,” Rioli told AAP.
“The next day he had it set up, he’s pulled it up and had plenty in there … he’s good.”
Rioli wouldn’t reveal his secret bait recipe.
There’s every chance he’s keeping that information for his next YouTube segment or weekly TV slot, talking all things Gold Coast fishing on the local news.
It’s a part of life the former Tiger, raised in the Northern Territory, missed in Melbourne despite being part of the club’s eventual run of success.
“I love it … here it just reminds me of home,” Rioli said, having arrived last year to help the club to a maiden finals campaign in their 15th season.
“And I get to show a different side to myself, not just the footballer.”
Petracca, of course, has his cooking.
It’s a topic that, “laughably”, if you ask the man himself, became a central narrative to the premiership midfielder’s keenness to leave the underperforming Demons.
The 30-year-old has enjoyed showing the young Suns the ropes in the kitchen and will continue to produce his own cooking masterclasses in his free time, adamant players should be celebrated, not condemned for having an eye to life after football.
“He loves it and we’ve had a giggle about it, talked about having a little catch and cook segment … it might happen,” Rioli teased.
“Fishing and footy, for me, they’re similar.
“Footy is my happy place on the field, then off field fishing is my happy place, on the water throwing a line in.”
Rioli and Collingwood pick-up John Noble transformed a budding Gold Coast group last year, coach Damien Hardwick identifying a need for their ability to break a game open from the backline.
It turned them into a finals team, and then a finals-winning team when a David Swallow point clinched an incredible victory over Fremantle in Perth.
But no sooner were Gold Coast given a reality check by eventual premiers the Brisbane Lions, beaten by 53 points at the Gabba a week later.
So Hardwick went hard for Petracca, who will give a midfield rotation boasting Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Touk Miller, eye-catching clout.
And Hardwick offered Western Bulldogs’ former No.1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan a chance to rekindle his career.
The talented forward failed to play a game at any level last year and spent large chunks of time away from the club as he dealt with off-field issues.
“Jamarra’s special; he’s going to be a ripper,” Rioli said of the 23-year-old.
“We don’t talk about the past. Just stay in the present, enjoying the journey.
“There’s been all the noise about what’s been happening, but his footy’s going to do a lot of the talking and he wants to make us better as a footy club.”
Add to that AFL-ready draftee Zeke Uwland and Dylan Patterson, who Rioli says is “going to be a star”, and the Suns are well stocked despite the exits of Sam Flanders (St Kilda), Ben Ainsworth (Carlton), Brayden Fiorini (Essendon), Connor Budarick (Bulldogs) and Malcolm Rosas Jnr (Sydney).
Assistant coach Shaun Grigg, another of Hardwick’s former pupils at Richmond, says the squad’s improvement has allowed them become more targeted with their recruitment.
“On what type of player and person fits what we’re doing,” he told AAP.
“The move for those guys, like Christian and Jamarra … yes the lifestyle’s unbelievable, but both came up because of what we’ve been doing on-field.
“The strides we made last year, the confidence they’ve got in what we’re doing, is more exciting.”
He said Hardwick’s tried-and-tested “four week blocks” would ensure the Suns don’t get carried away by last year’s breakthrough or any outside commentary.
“We always want the players to drift and believe and aspire and think about doing those great things,” he said.
“But we bring them back to the now, and how to improve their game and that’s Dimma’s real strength.”
Rioli is, naturally, fully converted.
“When we first played finals with Richmond … it’s a feeling you don’t want to let go,” he said.
“It’s the best feeling and this group’s in the same spot.
“Enjoy the journey and don’t look too far ahead.
“But I do believe, and you have to manifest it.
“I do that all the time … I’ll go home and see us in that last Saturday in September.
“I have that feeling. We belong. It’s going to be a special journey for us.”
AAP