The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football team based on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Nicknamed the Suns, the club competes in the Australian Football League and has done so since 2011.
Beginnings In 1982 a campaign was made by the Gold Coast Australian Football League to have a club based at Surfers Paradise by 1987. However, in 1987 the Brisbane Bears, ignoring the advice of its consortia partner the QAFL hastily selected Carrara Stadium as its temporary home ground, thwarting any plans for any local side.
In early 2007 Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke met with then-Australian Football League CEO Andrew Demetriou in a Broadbeach café to discuss the possibility of establishing a professional team on the Gold Coast. Demetriou was later quoted as saying it took two cups of coffee before thinking it was a good idea. Following the meeting it was announced that the AFL had offered the North Melbourne Football Club a $100 million package to permanently relocate to the Gold Coast. With relocation looking likely, James Brayshaw began campaigning for the president position with the slogan 'Keep North at North'. On 7 December 2007 the newly appointed Kangaroos chairman James Brayshaw announced the club would not be moving to the Gold Coast and would continue to be based out of Melbourne.
Registration and early appointments
Gold Coast Football Club Ltd was registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 24 December 2007 by the Australian Football League. On 12 March 2008, the AFL received unanimous support from the existing 16 clubs for two expansion teams to enter the league. A bid team known as 'GC17' was created in April and were already in deep discussion with the Australian Football League to be granted the licence. The AFL allowed the GC17 team a six-month period to meet the licence criteria which included 20,000 committed supporters and 111 business partners.
Triple AFL premiership player and 1996 Brownlow medal winner Michael Voss accepted a consultancy role with the GC17 team in May. Voss was considered a strong favourite to be appointed the inaugural coach of the new team and was offered a three-year contract as head coach. However, Voss sensationally walked out on the GC17 bid team due to the fact that they refused to offer a five-year contract as head coach. AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou announced in June that the GC17 team were given access to 20 Queensland-based teenagers that would be eligible for the 2009 and 2010 AFL national drafts. In July the team signed their first players in the form of Charlie Dixon, Jesse Haberfield and Jack Stanlake.
Collingwood assistant coach Guy McKenna was officially announced as GC17's inaugural head coach in August. On 5 September the bid team announced the club would be known as the Gold Coast Football Club and would wear red, gold and blue. In October the GCFC bid team presented their submission to the AFL commission which included 42,000 committed supporters and the required 111 business partners. The AFL Commission revealed in November that the newly formed team would compete in the TAC Cup in 2009 and the Victorian Football League in 2010 but had not yet been granted an AFL licence.
Acceptance Although the GCFC bid team met all the criteria during their presentation to the AFL Commission, several stadium issues continued to delay the process. Initially, the Government of Queensland intended to uphold a contract clause that stated a second AFL team in Queensland must play all home games at the Gabba until 2016. The clause was later loosened and the AFL sought out joint funding for the redevelopment of Carrara Stadium. The AFL was able to conjure up the funds needed for the redevelopment but it would all hinge on whether the Queensland Labor Party would be re-elected in the 2009 state election.
The Queensland Labor Party would win the 2009 election and in doing so secured the AFL licence for the GCFC bid team. On 31 March 2009 AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou announced that the Gold Coast bid team had been granted a provisional licence to enter the league in 2011 and would become the seventeenth team in the Australian Football League.
2009: TAC Cup
Gold Coast scheduled a practice match against the reigning QAFL premiers Southport Sharks in the buildup to their first game in the TAC Cup. The Gold Coast would go down to the Sharks 6.3 (39) to 3.5 (23) at Carrara Stadium. Marc Lock was named as the first captain of the club just days before their first round clash with the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup. The club lost their first round clash with the Rangers by 38 points at Carrara Stadium.
The following week, the Gold Coast recorded their first ever victory during a 134-point annihilation of the Western Jets. The team went on to record 10 wins in their following 15 matches. The results would see the Gold Coast finish fifth on the ladder and earn them a spot in the finals. A top of the table clash in the last round saw Gold Coast miss a crucial double chance for the finals with a loss to the Geelong Falcons. Gold Coast would come out victorious in their elimination final against the Northern Knights, but their dream season came to an end the following week in a semi-final loss to the Geelong Falcons.
During the season, on 29 July, Gold Coast announced the signing of professional rugby league footballer Karmichael Hunt. The three-year contract would begin in May 2010 when Hunt completed his prior commitments to play Rugby Union in France. The local media was quick to label the signing a publicity stunt with most media outlets tipping Hunt to return to the NRL before his contract expired. Hunt completed his last game for the Broncos in a preliminary final loss to the Melbourne Storm at Etihad Stadium. "It's a bit of a sad moment for me but I will still be playing football in the future, it will just be a different code." Hunt said after the game. He then traveled to France to play Rugby Union for Biarritz Olympique in the Top 14 competition.
2010: VFL The Gold Coast Football Club were permitted access to a dozen 17-year-olds throughout Australia that would compete for the club in their VFL year. In July 2009, the club made their first two signings of 17-year-olds. Luke Russell and Maverick Weller, both from the Burnie Dockers, were signed for the club's VFL year. The list of the 12 selected players was revealed in November which included Russell (Burnie), Weller (Burnie), Taylor Hine (Calder), Josh Toy (Calder), Matt Shaw (Dandenong), Piers Flanagan (Geelong), Hayden Jolly (Glenelg), Alex Keath (Murray), Jack Hutchins (Sandringham), Tom Nicholls (Sandringham), Brandon Matera (South Fremantle), Trent McKenzie (Western Jets). A tug-of-war broke out between Cricket Victoria and GCFC to acquire Alex Keath's services. After spending a week on the Gold Coast and familiarising himself with the club, Keath elected to sign a contract with Cricket Victoria.
It was later revealed that the Gold Coast had also been chasing East Fremantle 16-year-old David Swallow to join the club for their VFL season. Swallow came to prominence during the 2009 AFL Under-18 Championships when he was named in the All Australian team and was awarded the Larke Medal as the competition's best player. Initially, Swallow declined the offer to join the club but two months later agreed to relocate to the Gold Coast. A deal was struck with the AFL that allowed Swallow to play for the Gold Coast in 2010 but would still need to go through the 2010 AFL draft to officially join the team. Effectively, the move guaranteed Swallow would be drafted with one of the team's first three picks in the 2010 AFL draft.
The redevelopment of Carrara Stadium had commenced at the beginning of 2010 and forced the club to spread their home games between Fankhauser Reserve, H & A Oval and Cooke-Murphy Oval during the VFL season. The team faced Port Melbourne in their first Victorian Football League clash at Fankhauser Reserve. The Gold Coast would lose the encounter by 12 points. GCFC would remain without a win until their Round 6 clash with the Geelong reserves. The Gold Coast defeated the Cats by 28 points to record their first win in the VFL.
Rugby convert Karmichael Hunt returned from France in May and commenced training with the club for the first time. After two weeks of training, Hunt was named at full-forward for the Gold Coast's Round 9 away clash against Coburg. In front of a crowd of nearly 3000, Hunt kicked two goals on debut in Gold Coast's 47-point loss to Coburg. At a sold out gala function held at the Southport Sharks on July 22, the Gold Coast Football Club unveiled their nickname, guernsey and club song. The team would be known as the Gold Coast Suns and would wear a red, gold and blue jumper in their inaugural AFL season. The team song would be known as 'Suns of the Gold Coast Sky' and was played several times during the function.
The newly named Gold Coast Suns would only taste victory one more time after the Rise Up! function. The Suns would finish the 2010 VFL season with a record of 5-12-1 which would place them 10th on the ladder, two spots outside of the finals. Rookie listed player Sam Iles was honoured with the club's best and fairest award for 2010.
2011–2014: AFL Development Years
2011: Arrival of Gary Ablett Jr As a part of the concessions package on entry to the AFL, the Gold Coast Football Club were permitted to sign up to sixteen off contract players at other clubs. Adelaide defender Nathan Bock made history on 17 August 2010 when he became the first AFL contracted player to sign for the Suns. Signatures from Jared Brennan (Brisbane), Campbell Brown (Hawthorn), Josh Fraser (Collingwood), Jarrod Harbrow (Western Bulldogs), Nathan Krakouer (Port Adelaide) and Michael Rischitelli (Brisbane) followed.
The club had also been strongly linked with 2009 Brownlow medal winner Gary Ablett Jr for the entirety of the 2010 AFL season. On 29 September 2010 the club officially announced it had signed Geelong player Gary Ablett Jr to a five-year contract believed to be worth close to $10 million. Ablett was later named the inaugural captain of the Gold Coast Suns.
Further concessions were given to the club during the 2010 AFL draft when they received nine of the first fifteen picks. The picks were used to acquire David Swallow (1), Harley Bennell (2), Sam Day (3), Josh Caddy (7), Dion Prestia (9), Daniel Gorringe (10), Tom Lynch (11) and Seb Tape (13). The pending completion of Carrara Stadium forced the Gold Coast Football Club to play their first three home games in 2011 at the Gabba.
The Suns began their preseason campaign in the 2011 NAB Cup through a triangle series against Sydney and Greater Western Sydney at Blacktown International Sportspark. The Gold Coast caused a major upset when they defeated the Swans by 3 points and followed it up with a 25-point win over the Giants. The following week the Suns faced an away trip to the West Coast Eagles and would lose the encounter by 27 points. The club then played two more practice matches against the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans but would lose both matches.
The Gold Coast named a team that included twelve debutants in the buildup to their historic first game against Carlton. In front of 27,914 people at the Gabba, the Gold Coast disappointed on their debut with a 119-point loss to Carlton. Two ten goal plus losses to Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs followed the Carlton loss. After trailing by 40 points in the third quarter, the Suns recorded their first AFL victory against Port Adelaide after Justin Westhoff missed a kick after the siren to win the game. The following week the Suns were annihilated by the Essendon Bombers to the tune of 139 points.