Gold Coast has not played finals since they entered the AFL competition in 2011.
The club has been overhauled and stripped clean on multiple occasions since their inception, with AFL HQ desperate to get their red-headed stepchild off the canvas.
However, if the Suns have developed a reputation for anything, it’s shooting themselves in the foot list management wise.
They’ve obviously had their issues in this space since day one, but even looking specifically at the last five years, Gold Coast has made multiple costly blunders.
Losing a best 22 player and cultural leader like Hugh Greenwood for absolutely nothing - because the team had too many players on their list and needed to delist three to meet the AFL’s draft rules - is only the most recent example.
GARRY LYON AND KANE CORNES SLAM SUNS' DELISTING CALL
It may be grabbing headlines right now, but the Suns’ own goals since 2017 have been numerous.
Let’s not forget they also traded out all of their selections in this year’s draft sans pick three because they already had too many players.
This included handing pick 19 to Fremantle, as well as inside midfielder Will Brodie and picks 61 and 69, for a future second and a future fourth from the Dockers.
This was given a tick by the wider football punditry given Gold Coast’s capped list.
They now have an additional list spot to fill with Greenwood gone. A player like Brodie, or the 19th pick in the draft, would be handy to fill it you’d imagine. And that's not to even mention the lopsided nature of the trade itself.
Maybe their list wouldn’t be overflowing if they didn’t make decisions like signing Adelaide free agent Rory Atkins on a five-year deal.
They signed Atkins at the end of the 2020 season on the lengthy contract at the end of last year. He played eight games for the Suns in 2021 and was nowhere near their best 22.
See also their continual signing of depth Richmond players like Corey Ellis, Jacob Townsend, Oleg Markov, Anthony Miles and now Mabior Chol. Only Markov has worked out.
Trading current selections for future picks has become a habit for the Suns in recent years and it backfired at the 2019 draft.
In 2018, the Suns traded pick 19, their 2019 second-round pick and Hawthorn’s 2019 third round pick to Brisbane for the Lions’ 2019 first rounder.
Ultimately, the Suns received pick 17, given Brisbane’s sharp climb up the ladder, and gave up picks 19 (2018), 23 (2019) and 52 (2019). Not ideal.
This follows on from giving up pick two (Andrew Brayshaw) for Lachie Weller in 2017.
Weller has had his moments for the Suns, but Brayshaw looms as Fremantle’s next superstar.
And, of course, we can’t forget the delisting of Jarryd Lyons. Who made the 2021 All-Australian squad in a Lions guernsey. The poster boy for Gold Coast list management mistakes.
This is all especially important to note given the AFL’s tendency to give the club concessions, such as the enormous package handed to them ahead of the 2019 draft.
Should the Suns receive these lifelines and free boosters when they have no one to blame but themselves for their position?
You have to wonder what the likes of Ben King and Jack Lukosius thinks about the Greenwood situation and the club's general list management.
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