“Something amiss”: The darkest day of the deteriorating Suns

The 2026 season is deteriorating from bad to worse for the Gold Coast Suns.

Damien Hardwick’s Suns copped a fifth straight loss when comprehensively beaten by Fremantle by 51 points (80-29) in Perth on Sunday.

Their final score of 3.11.(29) was the equal fourth lowest in the history of the club. The loss has them sitting 11th with a 7-8 record and in desperate need of arresting their severe downtick in form.

Kane Cornes wonders if this defeat is the “darkest day” Gold Coast has experienced, especially considering where they were just over six weeks ago when 7-3 and sitting fourth.

“They were the raging premiership favourites after Round 1 - the Gold Coast Suns are now in free-fall,” Cornes said on SEN’s Fireball.

“With a coach who said they had about 80 per cent of the premiership list. It was not meant to be this way.

“Three goals they kicked in Perth. No one really expected them to win against the rampaging Fremantle Dockers, but three goals…

“Is this Gold Coast’s darkest moment? They’ve had some dark ones but this is in the conversation.

“When you consider everything with the list they’ve built and the situation this club was going to be in against a team they went over and beat in a final not that long ago.

“Is this Gold Coast’s darkest day?”

Tom Morris agrees, wondering if Hardwick has lost his way as a senior coach.

“Their regression is astounding. The way they’ve fallen back into old habits, as Damien Hardwick put it,” he said.

“It was the equal fourth lowest score in the club’s history at a time when they should be pushing for finals.

“Has Damien Hardwick lost his mojo? We’ve seen this before with great coaches that have gone to second clubs and haven’t been bale to recapture what they did in the first iteration of their career.

“I question whether Damien Hardwick is still the coach that he once was.”

Despite winning their first ever final over the Dockers last year, Cornes suggests the Suns have not improved under Hardwick given their current standing.

“There’s a lot of questions facing the Suns,” Cornes added.

“Right now they are 7-8. When they sacked Stuart Dew they were 7-7. Hardwick has a lot more toys than what Stuey Dew had.”

Next up is Collingwood at People First Stadium in a likely sell out on Saturday evening amid a season-defining block of games.

The clash with the Magpies could be the club’s most significant match yet given what’s at stake - a win would put them back into the top 10, while a loss would make life very hard in their pursuit of a wildcard spot.

“This weekend’s game against Collingwood, you could make an argument this is the biggest game in the Suns’ history,” Morris said further.

“It allows them to play in prime time in a twilight, standalone match. It’s the biggest game in their history.

“The fixture looking ahead, they don’t play anyone in the four and they don’t play anyone down the bottom. They all play teams around them on the table so it’s entirely in their doing whether they play finals or not.”

Morris feels there is a major connection issue between Hardwick and his players.

“Something is amiss there. We’ve got a fair idea what it is,” he said further.

“It’s not just the coach but it’s the connection. I classify it more as connection than relationship.

“I don’t think they dislike Damien Hardwick and I don’t think it's just Damien Hardwick either, it’s the coaching panel.

“He’s not getting enough out of the players, and the players feel like things aren’t working. So that remains a story.”

Beyond next weekend the Suns then take on the Crows in Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs at home, Carlton away, Melbourne at home, GWS away, Brisbane at the Gabba and then St Kilda away.