Gold Coast pulled off one of the most stunning upsets of the season to date earlier on Saturday afternoon, Stuart Dew’s troops stunning the Swans to record a 14-point win.
The Suns had to essentially win the game twice at the SCG, getting out to a four-goal lead early in the third quarter before the Swans fired back to tie up the scores at the final break.
However, showing wisdom beyond their years, the young Gold Coast outfit locked it down in the final quarter to only allow two behinds to Sydney.
Recruit Levi Casboult nailed the two last-quarter goals for the visitors to prove his worth, while former captain David Swallow’s move back into the midfield also paid dividends to net him best-on-field honours.
It’s a huge result for the club given a lean run in the past month, Dew suggesting the victory was necessary to keep morale up around the group.
“(I’m) proud of the fight, obviously,” Dew said post-game.
“I think at different times our belief has never waivered internally, and obviously externally, absolutely we understand at different times that it’s hard to keep believing when you’re close but not getting a win.
“To tick it over, a bit of a shot of confidence, it’s good to get that one.”
Meanwhile, Geelong romped to a 48-point win over Greater Western Sydney in Canberra in the Saturday evening game.
The Cats’ ball movement and their ability to combine their attacking flair with a strong defensive setup would have impressed Chris Scott, one of the first occasions Geelong has done both in the one game this year.
The inaccurate Cats left plenty of points on the field but still managed a score of 88 despite kicking 16 behinds, however it didn’t come back to bite the visitors and Leon Cameron’s side continued to be plagued by the issues that have corrupted them this year.
After a strong win last week, the Giants fell back to earth, struggling to transition the ball from one end of the ground to the other.
After holding off the doubters with a big win over Adelaide in Round 7, plenty will come for Cameron in the coming week after their dismal showing netted just 35 points on the scoreboard.
Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney slammed another poor performance from the expansion club, telling AFL Nation that they simply should be better than they are.
“They’re a disappointing side, the Giants,” Cooney said.
“For a team still loaded with talent, I’ll throw some names at you, Josh Kelly, Tom Green, Tim Taranto, Lachie Whitfield, Steven Coniglio, Jesse Hogan, Harry Himmelberg, Toby Greene… some of those names are, or should be, stars of the competition.
“To put up four goals for the evening, Geelong are a very good defensive outfit, we understand that, but four goals, with the amount of talent they’ve got, is a really disappointing effort from the Giants.
“We’ve been critical of their ball use for most of the evening… they don’t take the game on, they’re slow, they’re pedestrian, they make it easy for the opposition to defend them and that was another classic example of that tonight.
“They shouldn’t be in this position, they’ve got too much talent to be in this position. I'm not sure what they do with this group, with this coaching staff, but something needs to change and it needs to change drastically if Leon is going to be at the Giants next year.
“I don’t think he will be unless they find some of that attacking flair that has deserted them.”
GWS’ Round 9 clash with Carlton now appears as a season-defining game for both clubs, while Geelong’s clash with St Kilda also has big ramifications for how the top eight could look.