Gold Coast has beaten Sydney for the first time in their history in a remarkable boilover at the SCG, with their 24-point win placing the Swans’ finals hopes in jeopardy.
The Suns came back from five goals down in the first quarter, before keeping the Swans goalless in the second and third terms and withstanding a final-quarter challenge to notch up their first win since round five.
Steven May was unbelievable with an all-time record 10 intercept marks, after enduring a torrid week thanks to an off-the-cuff comment at a press conference.
Gold Coast were up and about early, applying pressure and forcing mistakes from the Swans, earning plenty of good shots at goal, but they blew their opportunities to edge ahead as their efforts looked in vain.
Jarrod Witts won free kick from the ruck, Jacob Heron took a sensational mark going back with the flight, and Nick Holman grabbed the ball following a bad turnover by Sydney, and although each player was in a very good scoring position, they couldn’t convert.
The Suns’ midfield was on top, but it was off half-back that Sydney were able to hurt the Suns, slicing through the corridor, looking to handball at every opportunity.
Zak Jones did this best, kicking the game’s first goal with a terrific running effort.
Once Sydney were able to get the ball forward Gold Coast were always in trouble.
Oliver Florent crumbed nicely, before fellow small forward Tom Papley jagged a couple more.
Meanwhile, the Suns continued to waste their shots, as Will Brodie put one out on the full, Nick Holman missed another chance, and so did Sean Lemmens, giving them a score of 0.5 before Luke Parker took an easy mark and made it five in a row to the Swans.
Finally the Suns got on the board.
Will Brodie flirted with danger running through the midfield, and just got the ball to Touk Miller, who kicked a nice goal.
As Sydney finished the quarter with another goal - Will Hayward nailing an elegant snap - it looked like it was going to be another very long day for Stewart Dew’s men as they trailed by 29 points at the first change.
But Sydney, whose skills and ball movement had been terrific in the first quarter, didn’t return after quarter-time with the same energy.
The Suns capitalised meanwhile, with their blistering midfield play enabling them to kick six unanswered goals and stun their opposition.
Aaron Young drew a free kick, and then took a mark thanks to a horrible turnover out of the Swans’ backline, and kicked true.
Gold Coast continued to chip away at the quarter-time deficit, and when impressive young midfielders Heron and Alex Sexton scored long range goals, the margin was suddenly back to just six points.
Oddly, what would have pleased Stewart Dew was the lack of stand-out performances from his side.
Where once Gold Coast could only compete with a 40-possession game from Gary Ablett, they now were all contributing to a cohesive defensive effort, and were more than matching their opponents in general play.
The scoring slowed for the next ten minutes, but the startling turnaround of the game was epitomised when Zak Jones was caught holding the ball on the wing, and Lachie Weller showed flair and initiative to take the advantage, charge to 50, and level the scores.
While they were light on for elite class, the Suns were putting their heads over the ball consistently, and scrapping for every centimetre.
That was how they cleared the ball from the next centre bounce, just forcing it forward bit by bit, until Sexton earned a free, and drilled his second.
With Gold Coast kicking six goals to zero for the quarter, the Suns found themselves in front 7.7 (49) to 6.7 (43), and held that lead for the final minutes of the half.
Although the goals dried up to start the second half, it was still entertaining footy, as the ball buzzed around and the Suns kept the Swans goalless for yet another term.
Gold Coast obviously lacked Tom Lynch and Jack Martin’s class up forward, and although they began to dominate the inside 50s, Brayden Crossley and Peter Wright both missed their respective first chances of the day.
Sexton kicked his third soon after however, and the opening goal of the second half, after 13 minutes.
Young followed suit with his third - an absolute ripper from deep in the SCG pocket - and startlingly, the Suns were 21 points in front, and had kicked eight in a row since quarter-time.
The Suns were tougher at the ball, and were winning absolutely every clearance, and their pressure in the forward line made up for their lack of good targets, although Wright started to work into the game.
Sydney continued to concede sloppy free kicks, missing targets and could perhaps have been much further behind if not for Aliir Aliir, who intercepted countless attacks and defended brilliantly under immense pressure.
The quarter meandered on, but Sydney just couldn’t take the ball forward.
All day they were well down in the contest, but long gone now was the ball movement, as Steven May completely took over in defence, with Lance Franklin still blanketed by Rory Thompson.
After receiving a barrage of criticism about their goalless quarter earlier this season, the Suns amazingly gave that treatment to the Swans twice in succession, as Sydney registered just six behinds in the middle two quarters.
The free kick count in the third quarter was an incredible 13-2 Gold Coast’s way, but that was really a by-product of their attack on the ball, and the effort they were putting in with their tackles, while Sydney’s tackling was lazy.
Sean Lemmens had a big chance in the first minute to push the margin out to 26, but missed, and Tom Papley crumbed a pack brilliantly and kicked his third, ending Gold Coast’s run of eight consecutive goals they had compiled since the first quarter.
At last a sense of urgency returned for Sydney, and Luke Parker kicked another goal, this time channelling Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a thundering boot off the ground to bring the margin back to eight.
Franklin had a couple of opportunities, but eventually Young steadied his side by kicking his fourth goal with a clever banana from the pocket, opening the margin back up to 13.
The final nail in the coffin came when Weller kicked another running goal from outside 50, and then Jarrod Witts took a soaring pack mark, which led to Nick Holman stretching the margin out to a game-high 27.
Gold Coast didn’t let up right until the siren, and finished with a margin of an even four goals.
Sydney are now in dire straits, with a tough fixture coming up all but ruling out top-four, and now top eight looks like a challenge.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast have probably won the best game in their history, and it could breathe some hope back into a club that looked broken.
SYDNEY 6.4 6.7 6.10 8.16 (64)
GOLD COAST 1.5 7.7 9.12 12.16 (88)
GOALS
Sydney: Papley 3, Parker 2, Florent, Jones, Hayward
Gold Coast: Young 4, Sexton 3, Weller 2, Holman, Heron, Miller
BEST
Sydney: Aliir, Kennedy, Papley, Jones
Gold Coast: May, Miller, Young, Sexton, Thompson, Brodie, Weller
INJURIES
Sydney: Nil
Gold Coast: Nil
TALKING POINTS
1. THE BEST WIN OF THEIR HISTORY “AT THIS STAGE”
Jonathon Brown called it the upset of the decade.
The Suns’ short existence has seen many crushing lows and no real highs to speak of, and there have been so many really ugly days for this footy club.
Yet, the backdrop to this match may have been more bleak than at any other point - no mean feat for a club dogged by damning headlines over the journey.
People interpreted Steven May’s now infamous three words “at this stage” as a get-out clause, and Stewart Dew conceded May’s co-captain (and the club’s only ever All Australian other than Gary Ablett) Tom Lynch was almost out the door already.
The fourth-placed Swans had never lost to the Suns, who had lost their past 11 matches this season, inclusive of a couple of heinous blowouts.
Lance Franklin looked good last week and may have had his mind set on a bag of goals somewhere around 10, to catch up to Ben Brown in the Coleman race.
Things really have never looked worse for Gold Coast than they did at quarter-time, seemingly on their way to another 100 point loss.
They will never ever forget this day.
2. TEAM EFFORT
The inspirational Steven May took 10 intercept marks, which is the all-time record.
But other than that, a quick glance at the statistics doesn’t really have any players’ names jumping off the page.
With an ultimate lack of superstars, the players had a complete buy-in, and probably all the fringe players (of which they have many) feel a lot more invested than their Sydney counterparts did.
It wasn’t about what one player did, but that whenever a Suns jumper and a Swans jumper were seen near the ball, the player in the Suns uniform went in that bit harder.
They really bullied the Swans in the midfield, and had a magnificent work ethic once they got a sniff of victory, to run to apply pressure, and to chase opponents.
The team commitment was brilliant, and while it takes so much more than one game to turn such a massive crisis around as they are having, this game sets the benchmark for what they can do to improve.
3. DISINTERESTED SWANS
It isn’t just simply that they won, Gold Coast played genuinely terrific footy.
They may have won if Sydney had played anything like they are capable of, but who knows?
Sydney were miles off today, and while the Suns will be happy to see the even spread of players, Sydney got 62 disposals, 17 clearances, 30 contested possessions and two goals out of Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker.
For too long, Sydney have got by on the strength of their best players without reliable performers underneath.
In the 2012 Grand Final, Sydney won with the “Bloods culture”, getting huge performances out of guys like Mitch Morton and Lewis Roberts-Thompson.
Did paying Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett 30 per cent of the side’s salary for years sacrifice the buy-in of the lesser lights?
Sydney are too flaky for the amount of talent they have, and must rediscover their culture, unity and commitment.
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