“Strained relationships”: The tense Suns environment under Dimma

There are “strained relationships” amid a “tense environment” at the Gold Coast Suns.

That is according to Tom Morris who is reporting that the environment under Damien Hardwick is not all that rosy on the back of a three-game losing run.

Morris says that relationships between players, the coach and his coaching staff is strained and having an impact on-field.

“It’s my belief that his connection to his players and their connection is as strained as it’s been in his time at the club,” Morris said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.

“It’s causing issues all over the place both on the field and behind the scenes as well from a contractual perspective.

“It’s not just Damien Hardwick (that’s) the issue here, it’s also the players and the wider scope of Gold Coast.”

Xander McGuire added that these strained relationships are impacting the commitment of some players.

“The relationships with the players themselves, and we can sit here and talk about Gold Coast contracts and where a number of their players will end up next year,” said McGuire.

“Ben King is the biggest out-of-contract name in the game as it stands right now. His teammates, staffers, coaches at the club can’t understand why this two-year deal is taking so long to be signed.”

Morris’ story prompted a discussion on the panel between he, Kane Cornes and Nick Riewoldt about where the Suns are at right now under Hardwick.

Cornes: “Are the players off the coach?’

Morris: “Some players are off the coach and my belief is some members of the coaching panel are off the players as well.

“This is a tense environment at the moment from both angles.”

Riewoldt: “The side is teetering on falling out of finals contention with a really tough draw to come.

“But you’re saying the biggest problem facing the Gold Coast is relationship-wise between coach and players.”

Morris: “The biggest internal problem facing the Suns is how they reconnect with each other after what has been a pretty ordinary three weeks.”

Cornes: “As a player when you’re at a poor club you immediately look to blame someone, you forget to look at yourself.

“This is the problem with this playing group is they’ve become comfortable for whatever reason.

“Some had them as premiership favourites and they started the season well, and you get ahead of yourself.

“The minute it goes off track you refuse to show any sort of resilience and you get in your small groups and blame someone for the position that you’re in.

“It sounds to me like the players are blaming the coach. Not to say that he doesn’t have major responsibility in this, of course he’s got the majority of responsibility in this.

“But that is a pretty ordinary look if this is a playing group that is starting to make excuses about a coach that has got three premierships in his trophy cabinet.”

Riewoldt: “This is a big statement to make. So what are you hearing to be able to say that he’s got strained relationships with the players?

“I’m assuming you’re not hearing that from Dimma himself, so you must be speaking to players.”

Morris: “You’ve known me long enough, I can’t tell you who I’m speaking to.

“But I wouldn’t go with that story if I hadn’t verified it in enough places. Strain doesn’t mean it’s unrecoverable either, strain doesn’t mean that it’s gone forever.

“It just means at the moment it’s a very tense environment inside that football club for a number of reasons.

“Part of that is because they’re not listening to his messages and that’s frustrating him as well.”

Riewoldt: “If that is accurate, where does this playing group get off?”

Cornes: “This is an embarrassing reflection on the playing group if that’s what it is.”

“Sooks a lot”: Has Dimma’s whinging filtered to Suns players?

Hardwick should stop pointing the finger and making excuses for Gold Coast’s subpar performances in 2026.

The Suns, who many tipped to contend this year, lost a third game on the trot when beaten by Geelong by 45 points on Friday night.

Hardwick was unhappy with the result but in particular the umpiring as he felt the Cats were the recipients of some questionable free kicks which led to goals.

He said post-match: "It was like the Roman Colosseum.

"I reckon they (the umpires) were waiting for the crowd to do this one (thumb down) then, all of a sudden, free kick.

"At the end of the day it is what it is, home-ground advantage, we understand that, we know you're up against it from the start, but a couple of them weren't there."

With the highly-fancied Suns sitting ninth with a 7-6 record, SEN’s Kane Cornes just wonders if the constant complaining from Dimma is trickling into his playing group.

It feels like almost every week the three-time premiership coach has something to say and Cornes reckons it might be having a negative effect.

“I think it’s a little bit alarming,” Cornes said of Gold Coast’s form on SEN’s Fireball.

“I just wonder whether the actions of the coach are now starting to reflect the group. He sooks a lot.

“If you could play the greatest hits of Damien Hardwick and all the times he’s complained. I don’t know if it’s a great example for the rest of your players.

“He was at it again on Friday night. Look, I think he had some merit for his complaining because some of the umpiring was bordering on disgraceful.”

David King didn’t think what Hardwick said was too bad.

King said: “I don’t think Damien was disrespectful to anyone in particular. He didn’t eyeball one decision or one umpire. I thought it was ok.”

And neither did Cornes, in isolation, but does he feel there’s some whinging from Hardwick most weeks.

“That’s fine, but if it’s something every week…," he continued.

“That one (complaint) I think he had cause to be frustrated because there were a couple of free kicks to Jeremy Cameron and others that ended up in goals.

“But if it’s, ‘Mate, we hate coming to Marvel’, or, ‘We don’t want to play in Alice Springs’, or, ‘We don’t want to do that if’, it’s every single week…

“In isolation there’s nothing big about it, but when it’s like, ‘Ohh, he’s whinging again’, then the players go, ‘We’ve got to train at 6 o’clock, I don’t want to do this’, then it sort of infiltrates the group.

“I’m just speculating as to what has gone wrong with this group. I think Damien needs to take a fair amount of responsibility for their performance this year which has been the performance of the most disappointing team of anyone.”

Hardwick appeared on Fox Footy's AFL 360 on Monday night, admitting he was a sore loser.

"I've been on a short leash for five years, I reckon. It is something I have to get better at - I do wear my heart on my sleeve," he said.

"I'm a horrible loser ... my mother has said that. I spoke to her again tonight and she always says, 'You've never tolerated losing well'."

Hardwick said he received a call from AFL EGM Greg Swann regarding his umpiring comments.

"Swanny's a cracker. You've got to love him and that's why he's a great football person," he said.

"He's doing his job and obviously the umpires were disappointed. I have to be better with that.

"To his credit, he was very understanding of my point. But he made it very, very clear, Swanny, that I (overstepped) the mark.

"I commend him on his way that he does go about it - having the conversation, no need for emails, no need for letters, just a man-on-man conversation. So I really appreciate it - the point was very well made by the great man."

The Suns will be desperate to arrest their losing run when they host Hawthorn at People First Stadium on Friday night.