Dubai Quacker
Wily Old Campaigner
A brief and concise preview this week (hope that’s OK Ticky009 ) – partly because I’m pushed for time and partly because there’s not a lot to talk about when it comes to the Gold Coast.
Key Details
Sydney Swans (10th) vs Gold Coast Suns (14th).
Date: Saturday August 12.
Time: 1.45pm AEST.
Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground.
Weather: long range forecast is sunny & mild. Perfect footy weather. Buy your tickets now.
Preamble
Imagine the following scenario.
Geelong name a team including Matt Rowell, Touk Miller, Noah Andersen, Ben King, Jack Lukosius and Charlie Ballard.
How do you think they’d go?
If you’re like me – you’d instantly think “wow, quality side, top 4, no question”.
But alas, transpose those same names onto the Gold Coast and once again, it’s a case of bottom 6 mediocrity, yet another sacked coach and the usual year of nobody really cares.
Which is not surprising. The history of sporting failure on the Gold Coast extends well beyond the Suns. A trip down memory lane includes the following professional and heavily bankrolled teams all confined to the (often nose-candy driven) scrap-heap of history:
Rugby League: Seagulls, Gladiators, Chargers.
Soccer: Gold Coast United.
Basketball: Cougars, Rollers, Blaze.
Rugby Union: Aces (never even heard of them until I googled “failed Gold Coast sporting teams”).
Why is it so? Why do sporting teams located on the Gold Coast perennially fail to compete?
I think its best summed up by Rugby League deep thinker Brent Todd in the following 1992 interview:
Three decades later, professionalism still hasn’t quite arrived on the Gold Coast.
But – the Suns remain loaded with talent (on paper) and this can safely be classified as a danger game.
Win and the lid comes off.
Lose and … well …. the autopsy thread will be Pulitzer prize winning stuff.
The Teams
Nick Daicos is out for 6 weeks.
Does anything else really matter?
Not really.
But for those who can overcome their grief (Punts , hope you’re OK mate), Touk Miller does return for the Suns, after his holiday for squirrel gripping Dayne Zorko.
As an aside, I couldn’t help but notice that Touk’s squirrel was the only thing that earned the Gold Coast a mention in last week’s press.
From a PR perspective, it was therefore a masterstroke. Because for one tiny, fleeting, surreal moment, the Victorian press actually cared about the Gold Coast. Merchandise sales spiked in the aftermath.
Of course, then Bontempelli got a few kicks, Nick Daicos didn’t - and everything in the press (and commentary boxes) returned to situation normal.
Just on squirrel gripping and its historical use (for PR related purposes), the great Adam Goodes employed a similar tactic, under instruction from the Swans’ marketing department back in 2012. History has since acknowledged this (and the resultant media storm) as the sole reason Sydney membership numbers exploded in 2012. Many a PhD has been completed by post-graduate commerce students on that very topic.
Please note, dear reader, that I do not endorse squirrel gripping on any sporting field. Having said that, I do, on occasion, wish my local café owner would administer a pointed squirrel grip to the hordes of lycra-clad Mamils that descend on the café at 9am every Sunday morning. There is simply no excuse for 50 year old men walking into a café with cut lunch on display. My view - squirrel gripping should be permitted, if administered by a qualified barista, as a means of repelling the growing plague of Mamils – because I honestly don’t know what other form of defense remains available to society.
But I digress.
In other teams news, Will Powell will miss, after suffering a nasty ankle injury. That’s actually a pretty significant out – Powell has been very, very good for the Suns this season. Of course, they’ll probably replace him with Alex Sexton, who’ll promptly kick 6.
On the Swans side of things – hard to see any changes, but until the dreaded injury update comes out mid-week, its impossible to know who has suffered a season-ending injury completely unbeknownst to all.
The Verdict
The Swans should win this one, given the form we’re in & what’s at stake.
But……..
Gold Coast have been a notorious bogey side in recent years. And it could be difficult for Horse to get the side up once again – the risk of a costly mental lapse must surely exist after the:
Battle of the Bridge
Silvertails vs Fibros
Big Brother vs Little Brother
Sydney Derby.
Nonetheless – Gold Coast are 14th for a reason and their finals hopes are now officially gone. Which in previous seasons has seen them collapse into late season awfulness of West Coastian proportions. Presumably because their mentality shifts into Brent Todd mode.
Swans to win and surge into the 8.
Exciting times. But a danger game.
Key Details
Sydney Swans (10th) vs Gold Coast Suns (14th).
Date: Saturday August 12.
Time: 1.45pm AEST.
Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground.
Weather: long range forecast is sunny & mild. Perfect footy weather. Buy your tickets now.
Preamble
Imagine the following scenario.
Geelong name a team including Matt Rowell, Touk Miller, Noah Andersen, Ben King, Jack Lukosius and Charlie Ballard.
How do you think they’d go?
If you’re like me – you’d instantly think “wow, quality side, top 4, no question”.
But alas, transpose those same names onto the Gold Coast and once again, it’s a case of bottom 6 mediocrity, yet another sacked coach and the usual year of nobody really cares.
Which is not surprising. The history of sporting failure on the Gold Coast extends well beyond the Suns. A trip down memory lane includes the following professional and heavily bankrolled teams all confined to the (often nose-candy driven) scrap-heap of history:
Rugby League: Seagulls, Gladiators, Chargers.
Soccer: Gold Coast United.
Basketball: Cougars, Rollers, Blaze.
Rugby Union: Aces (never even heard of them until I googled “failed Gold Coast sporting teams”).
Why is it so? Why do sporting teams located on the Gold Coast perennially fail to compete?
I think its best summed up by Rugby League deep thinker Brent Todd in the following 1992 interview:
Three decades later, professionalism still hasn’t quite arrived on the Gold Coast.
But – the Suns remain loaded with talent (on paper) and this can safely be classified as a danger game.
Win and the lid comes off.
Lose and … well …. the autopsy thread will be Pulitzer prize winning stuff.
The Teams
Nick Daicos is out for 6 weeks.
Does anything else really matter?
Not really.
But for those who can overcome their grief (Punts , hope you’re OK mate), Touk Miller does return for the Suns, after his holiday for squirrel gripping Dayne Zorko.
As an aside, I couldn’t help but notice that Touk’s squirrel was the only thing that earned the Gold Coast a mention in last week’s press.
From a PR perspective, it was therefore a masterstroke. Because for one tiny, fleeting, surreal moment, the Victorian press actually cared about the Gold Coast. Merchandise sales spiked in the aftermath.
Of course, then Bontempelli got a few kicks, Nick Daicos didn’t - and everything in the press (and commentary boxes) returned to situation normal.
Just on squirrel gripping and its historical use (for PR related purposes), the great Adam Goodes employed a similar tactic, under instruction from the Swans’ marketing department back in 2012. History has since acknowledged this (and the resultant media storm) as the sole reason Sydney membership numbers exploded in 2012. Many a PhD has been completed by post-graduate commerce students on that very topic.
Please note, dear reader, that I do not endorse squirrel gripping on any sporting field. Having said that, I do, on occasion, wish my local café owner would administer a pointed squirrel grip to the hordes of lycra-clad Mamils that descend on the café at 9am every Sunday morning. There is simply no excuse for 50 year old men walking into a café with cut lunch on display. My view - squirrel gripping should be permitted, if administered by a qualified barista, as a means of repelling the growing plague of Mamils – because I honestly don’t know what other form of defense remains available to society.
But I digress.
In other teams news, Will Powell will miss, after suffering a nasty ankle injury. That’s actually a pretty significant out – Powell has been very, very good for the Suns this season. Of course, they’ll probably replace him with Alex Sexton, who’ll promptly kick 6.
On the Swans side of things – hard to see any changes, but until the dreaded injury update comes out mid-week, its impossible to know who has suffered a season-ending injury completely unbeknownst to all.
The Verdict
The Swans should win this one, given the form we’re in & what’s at stake.
But……..
Gold Coast have been a notorious bogey side in recent years. And it could be difficult for Horse to get the side up once again – the risk of a costly mental lapse must surely exist after the:
Silvertails vs Fibros
Big Brother vs Little Brother
Sydney Derby.
Nonetheless – Gold Coast are 14th for a reason and their finals hopes are now officially gone. Which in previous seasons has seen them collapse into late season awfulness of West Coastian proportions. Presumably because their mentality shifts into Brent Todd mode.
Swans to win and surge into the 8.
Exciting times. But a danger game.
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