Suns in the Media - Part I

[Jen2310]

Anyone have access

Gold Coast spearhead Ben King says he is “not concerned” about his latest knee setback and “the plan” is to remain at the Suns beyond his current deal though when an extension will come remains to be seen.
King’s future on the coast is a regular topic of discussion given strong interest from Victorian clubs to lure him home and speculation will only grow over the off-season given his current deal expires at the end of 2024.

The 23-year-old told this masthead in June he “couldn’t be happier” in Queensland and expected extension talks to continue once the season was over.

He doubled down on that sentiment this week having just welcomed new coach Damien Hardwick to the club.

“I can’t wait to work with him,” King said of Hardwick.

“(Re-signing) has always been the plan to be honest – we’ve got so many good people in and around the club and he’ll only add to that.

“There’s definitely excitement around the playing group. It’s a real positive feel to end the year and we’ve got a lot of confidence in what we can hopefully achieve going forward over the next few years under a coach for who success seems to follow.”

The Suns will play their final game of the year against North Melbourne in Hobart on Saturday however King’s season is over after the club chose to rest him for the final three games due to knee soreness.

He played 20 games and kicked 40 goals this year after returning from an ACL injury that kept him sidelined for all of 2022.

His latest setback is in the same knee however King said it was not a long term concern.

“No not at all. I’m not concerned about it,” he said.

“It’s been my first year back after missing a big chunk of football. It’s just been a long year and it’s caught up with my body the past few weeks, but nothing to be concerned about.

“I just needed a break essentially. I’ve tried to train and get up for the last couple of games but it’s just been a bit sore and swollen so it just needs a bit of a rest.

“I had a fair few ups and downs (this season) to be honest. I certainly didn’t find that consistency and as much as I was striving for that it is typically hard to find that again after missing a chunk of football.

“I’m just glad to have played 20 games of football and be able to reset in the off-season and go again next year.”

 

[Ben Drever]

Is Barrett wrong? I’m sitting on the fence.

 

[RowellAnderson12]

Is Barrett wrong? I’m sitting on the fence.

View attachment 1787732

thats why steven king isnt our full time coach

 

[Suns Soldier]

Yesterday was a nothing game.
Wouldn’t be too concerned lads.
Besides, we had missing at least 5/7 of our starting 18 line up.

What Dimma will do is harden this playing group up. I can guarantee the sooky football were used to will be drained out. Accountability will be reinforced and a team mentality will be fortified. Bloody excited for 2024.
If we’re fortunate to get any new guns in then that’s just a bonus.

 

[KaySwizzle]

Yesterday was a nothing game.
Wouldn’t be too concerned lads.
Besides, we had missing at least 5/7 of our starting 18 line up.

What Dimma will do is harden this playing group up. I can guarantee the sooky football were used to will be drained out. Accountability will be reinforced and a team mentality will be fortified. Bloody excited for 2024.
If we’re fortunate to get any new guns in then that’s just a bonus.

While I agree that in isolation that game means nothing (I’m not particularly upset or annoyed by it), I do get concerned at our drop offs in games across the season as a whole.

Sometimes we look crisp and unbeatable (usually for a quarter), and other times we look like complete witches hats (sometimes up to 3/4 of a game…)

I don’t think we need to raise the ceiling of the team much, just raise the floor. Maybe that’s just another off-season, but I’m getting the feeling we are missing a couple of key pieces that need to be addressed ASAP.

Consistency gets wins across a season.

 

[Supersuns]

Is Barrett wrong? I’m sitting on the fence.

View attachment 1787732

He isn't wrong. List has been overrated.

 

[nutstar]

I’m not saying he’s out and out wrong, but he is generally a harsh marker of the suns. Whether it’s because he comes from the agenda we shouldn’t exist.. unsure..

We’ve got the talent on the list. What we don’t have is a hard edge.
If we could play on that edge like we played against Brisbane, we’d win more than we lose.

 

[CanYouFeelTheSunburn]

I’m not saying he’s out and out wrong, but he is generally a harsh marker of the suns. Whether it’s because he comes from the agenda we shouldn’t exist.. unsure..

We’ve got the talent on the list. What we don’t have is a hard edge.
If we could play on that edge like we played against Brisbane, we’d win more than we lose.

Exactly, and you only need to look at little brother to see what we lack, they don’t get intimidated by big moments or large crowds against them. They turned their season around from 3-7 to make finals. I seriously want our players to spend time with them over the pre-season to see how they go about it, how they prepare themselves both mentally and physically. We need to adopt the fearless, never say die, backs against the wall character and traits they possess. It’s like they thrive being the underdog and knowing the crowd is against them. Give me some of that.

 

[Young_Guns]

Is Barrett wrong? I’m sitting on the fence.

View attachment 1787732

He’s a flog, but he’s not wrong.

For all the talk we’ve had about this group of players being different to previous lists, we still have that weak underbelly from Day 1. Our guys want to run around getting easy touches, talking ourselves up when we are on top, but when the going gets tough, it’s someone else’s problem to fix it because they shouldn’t be the one who has to do it.

Say what you will about guys like Nick Holman, but the reason he is always entrenched in our 22 is because he has that dog in him. He has had to fight for everything to get where he is and he knows that anything less than 110% effort is career over for him. That never give up, never shirk anything attitude is still too few and far between with this group. Despite being at the very top his whole way though junior footy, Matty Rowell also shows it.

 

[TheGoldPersons]

 

[ajhgcs]

View attachment 1788070

I'm guessing he's dressing up as Dimma for mad monday

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[kreglze]

Hopefully he paid full price for the polo, can do with the money haha

 

[nutstar]

I'm guessing he's dressing up as Dimma for mad monday

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Don’t burst this bubble… red looks good on him… would make a great assistant

 

[Southern Sun]

Couple of things from David King on sen today. 1, he continues to back over the trade thomas if north can get the suns first.
2, in a top 4 most likely to go from outside the 8 this year to in the 8 next he has the suns at no 1, also could see them pushing top 4 or 5.

 

[ajhgcs]

Couple of things from David King on sen today. 1, he continues to back over the trade thomas if north can get the suns first.
2, in a top 4 most likely to go from outside the 8 this year to in the 8 next he has the suns at no 1, also could see them pushing top 4 or 5.

If it's true Thomas is on $700k + next year, then there is 0 chance North get pick 4 for him

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[Deleted member 2402071]

If it's true Thomas is on $700k + next year, then there is 0 chance North get pick 4 for him

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I would do it if they pay a big chunk of his salary and we get a decent pick back.

 

[Jirik13]

Good stats. Ballard ranking second in the league in defensive one-on-ones is unbelievable. It did not look like sometimes.

This is reflected by Gold Coast ranking seventh in the league in contested possession differential and fourth in clearances differential. Their best footy was very much finals worthy amid calls from Fox Footy pundits in June that the Suns were a “serious footy team”, while they appear to have found their long-term forward pairing with Jack Lukosius

13

Jack Lukosius

Age

24

Ht

195cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.8

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.4

3star

T

1.8

4star

MG

369.3

5star

D

14.8

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

3.3

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

1.8

3star

MG

369.3

5star

D

13.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

2.4

3star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.2

4star

MG

358.0

5star

and Ben King

34

Ben King

Age

24

Ht

202cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.2

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

3.5

4star

T

0.5

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

7.5

2star

K

5.6

2star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.3

1star

G

1.5

5star

D

6.8

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

0.2

3star

G

1.0

4star

. Charlie Ballard showed he could very well be the most underrated key defender in the game in a brilliant All-Australian calibre season, ranking second in the league in contested defensive one-on-ones, second in intercept marks and third in intercept possessions.

And bad ones. We really fell off in forward stats compared to 2022. For sure we were not able to lock the ball inside50 like in 2022 and put pressure on. Really curious to see what Dimma will do with forward line set up.

From a statistical standpoint, their kicking rating was the second-worst in the league and they dropped off significantly in key territory stats including ranking 16th in points from turnover, 16th in points from forward half intercepts, 14th in forward half intercepts and 12th in time in forward half.

Brutal reviews: What went wrong for bottom 10 – and who they now must target

Brutal reviews: What went wrong for bottom 10 teams – and who they now must target

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[Young_Guns]

If that doesn’t sum up Dew’s mantra. Win the contested ball and hope like hell that is enough to win us the game.

 

[Jirik13]

If that doesn’t sum up Dew’s mantra. Win the contested ball and hope like hell that is enough to win us the game.

In 2022 we were much better in forward pressure, locking ball inside50, causing turnovers. It can't be just missing Rankine.

The strong contest and clearances should be a good base for finals games style.

 

[HereIam86]

 

[robo_1]

I would do it if they pay a big chunk of his salary and we get a decent pick back.

They want to keep him no chance of them doing that

 

[robo_1]

 

[Iva Bigun]

View attachment 1788208

Enjoying his last mad Monday it would appear

 

[Supersuns]

Our inability to hurt teams on turnover is the biggest thing that needs to be changed.

 

[lommy]

8k is huge


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