I’m going to show my age here by quoting a singer and dropping a name of someone that was finished making music before the Gold Coast Suns even existed.
The AFL have screwed up many times, in many ways, this season, but in scheduling the Gold Coast Suns’ first finals appearance against the Dockers, on Saturday night.
They were channelling their inner Vanessa Williams, and saving the best for last.
I’m sorry… that was a big build up, and then I under-delivered with Vanessa Williams. Maybe you were expecting a bit of Bon Jovi and Livin’ on a Prayer? Or maybe Mel and Kim’s Respectable?
Unlike Mel and Kim, this game did not under-deliver – not by a long shot.
After a poor first half, Fremantle extracted the digit and made a fantastic game of it in the second half. Their hand was forced by a Suns unit that took the game on, and piled on the scoreboard pressure. Freo were forced to go on the attack, and when they did… surprise surprise… they started to look good.
Speaking of looking good, the second quarter of the Gold Coast was as good a 30 minutes pf footy as the team has played all season. Bailey Humphrey introduced himself to September footy by slamming through three of his four goals, and the combination of Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson crashed and bashed the footy forward, as they combined for 21 touches.
At the main break, it was a 25-point lead to the Suns, and all signs pointed toward a Pineapple Grapple Semi-Final next week.
But the Dockers weren’t done.
They edged back into the contest in the third, before the Suns started to play conservative football to start the fourth – that always spells trouble.
It allowed Freo the opportunity to go on the offence, and take the contest on. That resulted in the Dockers hitting the front.
Panic stations in the Gold Coast box!
Once again, the Suns looked to Mac Andrew to swing momentum. Their big defender pushed forward and kicked a goal to tie the scores. David Swallow was then awarded a free kick for being held, and he slotted a goal that was then reviewed and reversed to a behind.
Unfortunately, with just nine seconds to play with, the Dockers had only the slimmest chance of moving the footy end-to-end.
Siren.
Suns win their first final, and they did it on the road. Almost like the story of the club, itself, they did it the hard way.
Time to jump into The Mongrel’s Big Statements.
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