Well, it has taken a long time for the Gold Coast Suns to stake claim on a standalone Friday Night slot at home, and when it finally arrived, they made it well worth our while to watch, didn’t they?
Of course, their opponent had a fair bit to do with that, as well, as the two clubs played out a highly-entertaining, nail-biting game of footy that had a bit of everything.
Imagine someone came to you before the game and told you that you’d hold the Pies goalless in the first half?
It’d almost be party time! If you were Damien Hardwick, there’d be high-fives in the coaches box. You’d be all smiles, and feel like you’d done everything right. Turns out, that prophet would have been right.
As the teams walked to the sheds at the main break, you couldn’t blame the Suns for feeling that way, could you?
This was the ladder leaders they were touching up. This was the mighty Magpie team that has taken all before them this season.
And now, the Suns seemingly had their number.
That number was zero. Zero goals in a half of footy by the best team in the land.
To quote Vizzini, it was “inconceivable”, and yet, there we were, with the Pies having just nine behinds to their name.
Only the most optimistic amongst us expected the Pies to come roaring back, given the style of the Suns play, but reality of the situation is that it was less than a six-goal lead. And Collingwood would provide a lesson that it was unwise to ever write this team off.
The see-saw moved slowly early, and largely had the Suns in control of it, but late in the game, it was up and down in rapid succession. When Jamie Elliott slotted goal number three to give the Pies a three-point lead, it genuinely felt as though they’d broken the Suns’ spirit. This Gold Coast team that threatened to blow Magpies away had now been hog tied and looked ready to be dealt the killing blow.
And you know what? Previous incarnations of this club may have done just that.
However, two players refused to allow it to happen.
First, it was Ben Long, who stood up at several key moments across the entire contest. He was awarded a free kick for front-on contact in a marking contest, and his goal gave the Suns the lead back.
And then, it was Noah Anderson, with one of the best centre breaks you’ll ever see. He used the old one-two with Lachie Weller to burn off Scott Pendlebury, and slotted a goal to make it a two-kick game.
From then, it was a matter of whether the Suns could hold on. Collingwood threw everything at them, but whether it was Connor Budarick running down Jack Crisp, Brayden Fiorini throwing his body in, or Daniel Rioli flying in to make desperate spoils, the Suns got it done. With six games remaining for most of the clubs in the league, and seven for the Suns, this is the greatest chance they’ve had to play finals.
After this win, they have to play finals, don’t they?
Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Big Questions
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