The final match of the season is a bit of a tough pill to swallow for teams that won’t be playing in September. Aside from missing finals footy, there is also the inevitable shrinkage on the playing list. While Dusty calling time on a brilliant career took up many sporting pages around the nation (so much so, that I won’t go much into it here) there was still a game to be won, and careers on the line. His retirement probably overshadowed Pickett and Grimes also farewelling Punt Rd, but that’s to be expected.
With that in mind, I think the Tiger faithful could be justified in feeling a little disappointed with the game. In a year where there is no real obvious pick one, the ratio of shame vs opportunity when picking up the wooden spoon isn’t in their favour. So when their side seemed to struggle to get out of second gear as Gold Coast ground out a 24-point win, it really highlighted how far they’ve fallen in such a short time.
But the Suns wouldn’t exactly be self-high-fiving either. In a season where they promised to put their mark on the competition, they finished with a decent 11 wins, but still fell short when it mattered—especially when travelling.
But all that will be discussed in the season reviews. For now, let’s look at how the Suns got the job done.
The Lead-Up
For the third year running, the Gold Coast Suns would be involved in a match that would decide the wooden spoon. In 2023, they lost to North, allowing them to climb off the bottom of the ladder and give the spoon (And one Mr Harley Reid) to West Coast. In 2022, they beat North by 11 goals to give them the spoon and the number one pick that they traded away.
Whoever is writing the fixture at AFL house, it seems like they’re unusually competent in giving the Suns an easy opponent in the final round of the home and away season.
Richmond’s build up was all about the farewells though, and maybe they took their eye off the ball a little. It’s understandable if that’s the case, as even a win didn’t guarantee getting off the bottom of the ladder, unless North were utterly demolished in their match.
I mean, that did happen, but anyway…
Ins and outs
Richmond welcomed back Liam Baker from concussion, and Marlion Pickett, who had recovered from his hamstring injury. Maurice Rioli also got a call-up, allowing him to join the team as they donned the guernsey that he helped design, but was not available to wear in Sir Doug Nicholls round. These three inclusions came at the cost of Jacob Blight, James Trezise, and Matthew Coulthard who made way.
Gold Coast’s side was likewise strengthened with the return of Alex Sexton, and Jack Lukosius, at the expense of club veteran David Swallow and exciting young spearhead Jed Walter. The omission of Walter was especially surprising as his development would be a critical element in Gold Coast’s five-year plan. Maybe it was to give the VFL side a better shot at advancing in their finals race. Unfortunately, Jed’s two goals (and Sam Day’s 4.2) weren’t quite enough to help his side beat Frankston, so they’re done for 2024 as well.
The start
The match began with both teams displaying a mixture of promise and errors. Richmond, playing at a venue that has not been kind to them recently, struggled to find their rhythm. Noah Cumberland had opportunities early on, but his first shot on goal only resulted in a behind. The Tigers’ inability to capitalise on their forward entries became a recurring theme throughout the game.
Gold Coast, on the other hand, managed to strike first with a goal from Ben King, who would go on to be a standout performer. Richmond’s defence, usually a strength, faltered as Noah Balta made two costly errors that allowed the Suns to extend their lead. Despite Rhyan Mansell burning off three players to snap for a fantastic goal and Maurice Rioli executing a picture-perfect tackle in the forward 50 to set up another major, Richmond trailed by three points at the first break. While the scoreline was close, the fact that Richmond had kicked 3.4 to the Suns’ 4.1 showed just how scrappy Richmond had been in the opening stanza, and should arguably have gone into the first break with a comfortable lead.
Gold Coast had more clean play, but the Richmond trademark chaos ball kept making scoring opportunities, but they couldn’t quite convert them into goals.
The turning point
The second quarter saw Gold Coast threaten to run away with the game as they piled on 6.5, and they likely could have shut the door if not for some inaccuracy at goal, mostly by players electing to take snap shots rather than slow the play down and hit up a target. It’s understandable though, players in the final game of the season will always fancy a sneaky shot at the sticks.
The turning point however was when Marlion Pickett came on to replace Sam Banks in the third quarter. While plenty of people will criticise the decision to have a retiring player start the game in the dub vest, Pickett’s immediate impact suggests that there was some method to the madness. He was a shot in the arm for a Tiger’s team that looked to be sagging a bit, running hard to make contests and put pressure on his opponents, lifting his team with his energy and helping wrest back control as Richmond outscored Gold Coast three goals to one and pegging the margin back to 21 points at the final break.
The finish
The energy didn’t last though. When faced with the task of kicking at least four unanswered goals in the final term, Richmond looked to have run out of legs while Gold Coast ball magnets Miller, Anderson and Rowell kept up their pace and attack on the ball, often finding space around true centre half forward, where they could carefully select a target closer to goal. On the occasions where Richmond managed to push the play towards the boundary, clever ball use from Flanders and Lukosius created scoring opportunities that Richmond couldn’t match. One example was Will Graham’s first goal at the MCG where he floated into the pocket as Lukosius advanced with the ball, balked around the defence and lobbed in a kick that was weighted perfectly to fall into the arms of the Gold Coast youngster.
It’s not spectacular, but it is pretty, and it happened far too often, even though Gold Coast were wasteful with the opportunities. The sheer volume of chances hurt the Tigers though, as they were forced to play with the ball in their defensive half for far too long.
They didn’t give up though, as a late surge that saw Rioli and Pickett string together back-to-back goals gave them some hope of an upset, but the suns returned to their selective, if occasionally chaotic, forward press before a late Ben Long goal put the game to bed.
Ruck battle
Witts vs Nankervis is the sort of ruck match-up that aficionados of big men battles love to watch. While Nank the Tank gave up about three inches to his rival, Toby has earned a reputation as a bit of a scrapper, willing to get stuck into any opponent without fear or favour.
Witts on the other hand has gone toe-to-toe with the best big men in the league, and more often than not, showed that he can swim with those killer whales without fear of being outclassed.
So how did they match up?
Both attended a little over 70 ruck contests and earned their own ball at about the same rate. Toby had a few more metres gained, marks, tackles, and intercepts in his resting role floating across half back, while Witts rested forward and had a goal to his name.
The key element though, was in the primary role of the big guys—winning the hit outs. Witts managed to get to the ball first 46 times to Nank’s 21, and find his mids 17 times to Toby’s 10.
It really does come down to that, so Witts gets the crown in this one.
The Sun Shines on Ballard
In a moment that probably left Gold Coast fans pinching themselves, key defender Charlie Ballard decided he was done playing defence and would give scoring a shot. In his 133rd game, he managed to sneak forward to register his third-ever goal, causing his teammates to get around him and celebrate his elevation to the title of “swingman” (I’ve always preferred that to ‘utility’. Makes him sound like a ute).
Suns Out Guns Out
Despite Richmond’s heartfelt attempts to turn their final game into a Hollywood ending, they just didn’t have the petrol. Gold Coast delivered a death by a thousand cuts as their ability to monopolise the corridor while shutting down the ball movement out of the stoppages didn’t just rain on the Tigers’ parade—it drenched it in a deluge of goals, interceptions, and broken tackles, wrapping up the season with a solid, if at times sedate, win.
As the teams left the field, the Suns knew that their season was done and they were out of the finals, while the Richmond gun of his era left in a way that was entirely appropriate—on his own two feet to rousing applause from a grateful fandom. He wasn’t chaired off, but rather walked side-by-side (can I say that here?) with Grimes and Pickett right beside him. A fitting farewell to a bloke who seemed to shun personal attention even as one of the biggest stars of the game.
The Sting of the Spoon
The result confirmed what the Tiger Army had been dreading—Richmond, in their first season under coach Adem Yze, have officially joined the Wooden Spooners Club Even worse, it happened while previous coach Damien Hardwick looked on from the opposing box. It’ll sting the fans, but it’s not all bad. The Tigers will enter the draft with an excellent draft hand, likely to be further enhanced during trade week as players move and teams look to amass draft points to use on bid matching.
Other bits
- Gold Coast’s Sam Flanders racked up 29 disposals and two goals as he ripped through Richmond’s zig-zagged his way through the Tiger’s defence all game. Flanders didn’t just play well—he made history, breaking Gary Ablett Jr’s club record for disposals in a season. He was also their premier playmaker in attack as he racked up 14 Score Involvements six tackles and six clearances in a fantastic all-round effort.
- Tim Taranto put in a BOG performance for my money. He earned 30 touches, with most of them coming the hard way. Despite this, he also led the tackle count for the game, which is no small feat when he was tasked with bringing down line breakers in Rowell and Miller. I could make a case for Flanders for this accolade, and he’d deserve it, but I just like seeing Taranto put in for every minute of the game, even after his teammates seemed to be thinking about their Mad Monday costumes.
- Jacob Hopper was huge in the middle, playing the inside role in a way that will give the Tiger army some hope for the future. His work at the coal face allowed him to rack up a game-high 13 clearances (the next best was Rowell with eight).
What does 2025 hold?
Aside from Mad Monday, both teams will be looking to the draft and the trade table as a solution to their problems.
While Gold Coast have indicated that they’d be open to exploring trade options on players like Jack Lukosius, Richmond seems to have their eyes firmly on expanding their already envious draft capital. With their current picks sitting at 1, 21, 29, 39, 41, 47, 57, 66, and 73, you can expect them to trade points for a position with teams looking to bid on academy and father-son players.
Oddly enough, with picks 6, 13 and 20, Gold Coast has the capital to work out a trade, and with academy player Leo Lombard touted as a top-ten pick, they may need some handy points to match a call, especially if they want to use pick 6 on another player. Trading pick 20 for 29, 39 and 47 would net them a nice points haul and the flexibility of using 6 and 13 on other players, while still keeping enough points in reserve if Lombard slips beyond 13.
After the draft, both teams will look to 2025 as a season that sets their fortunes for the next decade. Richmond will need to decide how to rebuild, and they’ll be on the back foot as Tasmania is poised to scoop up the best young talent in a few years’ time.
Likewise, Gold Coast will be desperate to play finals football after a season where they showed that they could match it with the best, yet still struggle to put away the worst at times.
Gold Coast have a core of players that have the ability to take the next step, and in Hardwick they have a coach who knows how to win. They just need to put together a full season of effort, and we could see them in some post-season action.
