Coach Stuart Dew - Where is the scrutiny?

[Farang83150]

He might get the arse this week?

I'm thinking he'd like it slow smoked and with a really spicy dry rub!

 

[Tim Evans Beard]

The problems don’t begin and end with Dew. As a club they have an incredible ability to collapse after some bright/competitive starts. Their W-L over the past 5 years:



4-3 to 5-11-1 in 2020
3-1 to 3-19 in 2019
3-2 to 4-18 in 2018
6-8 to 6-16 in 2017
3-0 to 6-16 in 2016

This is a good stat.

Gold Coast consistently play a lot of kids and early draft kids as their players leave, forcing them to play new kids. These kids definitely have talent (as they normal show at other clubs), but the not the deep fitness continual, repetitive pre-seasons bring. They need good players to stay/come-in and develop a deep fitness base that allows season long effort.

They are going to get smashed a few more times before the season is over by older, hardened teams. A nearly 10 goal loss today with Port looking like they didn't try to hard.

 

[Farang83150]

I don't think it's the coach. Just no spirit at the club. GWS managed to create a team that at least looks like it gives a sh*t.

I'm not sure what the solution is. Problems run much deeper than just the coach.

Agreed, they don't look connected at all, recon it's alot more than just Dew, it's a place coaches go to die.

 

[Belnakor]

We fielded 11/23 blokes under 50 games against Fremantle, our spine was crap and Sean Darcy murdered us.

Fremantle had 9 and 2 first gamers and GC didn’t even look like it.

they need a Mundy type player who can set the standards.

 

[Belnakor]

Agreed, they don't look connected at all, recon it's alot more than just Dew, it's a place coaches go to die.

i reckon they need Ross Lyon to drive the players hard and take no excuses. Dew seems to have a lot of excuses and reasonings why his team sucks but no solutions.

 

[Dangerousfield]

As big a headache for the AFL as it ever has been. Still have PP 19 in this years draft and can just sign on their academy kids and Darwin kids.

Big worry now will be former high draft picks going home, their mangers phones don't stop ringing with calls from Adelaide and Melbourne.

 

[maskmcgee]

First thing suns need to do is get rid of that arrogant idiot Cochran, half the people in the country probably want the suns to fail just because of that jackass.

 

[Belnakor]

First thing suns need to do is get rid of that arrogant idiot Cochran, half the people in the country probably want the suns to fail just because of that jackass.

don’t even know who that is

 

[Redline]

I don't think it's the coach. Just no spirit at the club. GWS managed to create a team that at least looks like it gives a sh*t.

I'm not sure what the solution is. Problems run much deeper than just the coach.

I don't think it's the coach. Just no spirit at the club. GWS managed to create a team that at least looks like it gives a sh*t.

I'm not sure what the solution is. Problems run much deeper than just the coach.

I would of agreed with you before today but there was a lack of effort today and they looked really disorganized and with no structure. That's on Dew.

 

[adogsfan5]

They desperately need some a-grade experience/ leadership- like a Mundy, Bruest, Burgoyne (prob a year too late), Gray, Kennedy etc. no more sh** fringe players.

 

[Tasmanian saint]

As big a headache for the AFL as it ever has been. Still have PP 19 in this years draft and can just sign on their academy kids and Darwin kids.

Big worry now will be former high draft picks going home, their mangers phones don't stop ringing with calls from Adelaide and Melbourne.

Yeah you would hope it might have finally dawned on the afl that just continuing to hand them draft picks isn’t going to fix anything. They need large salary cap allowances at least until they can become competitive

 

[BigVic]

They need to change their name to North Queensland and call themselves the North Queensland Suns.

 

[Bjo187]

An experienced coach with previous success and some experienced players from a strong club culture it's not rocket science ffs. Even ward and davis would be decent the gc players have no intensity in the contest.

 

[TigerKnights]

The coach is not the issue at GC. The club and how it was born is. Cochrane the damn loudmouth in his rant against a 19th club called them (and GWS) a franchise. Their own leader does not consider them as part of the community. Merely a business to expoit large 'markerts' for the AFL. Clearly the VIC clubs (inc STH/SYD) and Port were born of the suburbs in which they were found. Those clubs at various stages in their life were the rock the community could lean on in hard times, represented a personality of the people, along with successes they had. WA/SA are mad on footy and in WCE and ADL case were simply offended by perceived VIC arrogance and entitlement, and so came to be. FRE to a lesser extent have the Port aspect about them but are combination of East and Sth Freo FCs. And even the Bears subsumed the Lions, and gained a MEL base and history that blokes like Bulldog Murray participate in. GC and GWS are the first fully fledged undiluted expansion of the AFL. And people wonder why they find it hard. Amazing.

 

[HotSausage69]

First thing they should do is change that s**t awful Guernsey. How could anyone be proud to play in something so boring and plain.

 

[Hammer#8]

I think the Suns are exactly where their list profile says they should be. They are young, talented and inexperienced to team footy at AFL level. Individually they are each skillful and play like they would have dominated at U/18 level.

They are not mature, big bodied or mentally switched on. They don't play like they know what their teammates will do, that comes with experience playing together as a team. They haven't adjusted to a team ethos, they don't shephard for each other off the ball. Don't understand their running patterns, don't sync with a game plan.

They've learnt how to dominate games and be noticed by talent scouts. They only go to the next level and win more games by better coaching and collectively playing 100 games together.

They start seasons well, but it breaks down quickly once teams adjust to them. It means they aren't coachable to another game plan for a given week. Again, inexperience is their enemy.

They are good in patches. Win against the Swans was ferocious. Win against the Pies showed they could hold their nerve and win an arm wrestle contest. Second half against the Dogs showed they can match it with the best.

Being inexperienced means you don't adjust to new conditions quickly. It either works or fails on a given day, they aren't equipped to deal with an unfamiliar scenario in a game and adjust accordingly.

I don't think it's a Dew problem, but having poor assistants that are unavailable means they learn and mature slower than players at other clubs.

They aren't a bad list, they've proven they're good enough. Too many first rounders disprove that. They're just way off the best right now and aren't a good team playing in a good system.

 

[Catsace]

There's something about the Suns that's kind of like footy kryptonite. They have played two games in the last month now in absolutely beautiful sunny fine conditions (Vs Geelong at K.P, and now against Port at Metricon), and i guess in the defence of the Suns, they have held the two higher placed sides to mediocre scores with just 21 scoring shots...Geelong 14.7.91 and Port 12.9.81.

The Suns themselves though against Port could hardly score, but certainly against Geelong but for bad kicking they should have actually been leading well into the 3rd quarter, at one stage it was 4.8.32 to Geelong's 6.1.37. So they defend very well, i mean Geelong can rifle up a big score and have done so against the Eagles, Tigers and Port...and Port themselves held to kick just 12.9.81 in gorgeous sunny conditions is not a bad defensive effort.


But may it be a case that they just put men back to flood the backline? Is there an element of 'rolling the arm over' by the better sides where they just exert themselves enough to win? Port had 11 goals by halfway through the 3rd, and kick one goal in 45 minutes of footy after that. Is Dew sort of doing a backline first build a little like Bomber Thompson was trying with Geelong in 2003? I really don't know but the wins are few and far between after the first third of the season passes.

I guess i'm sort of saying they are certainly playing footy that restricts sides from going crazy against them, and they do have a young side, but is there a chance they start to play more positively and attack the scoreboard? So many of their games are quite dour spectacles, and is that going to be the way to succeed in the future? Ross Lyon ultimately suffered from having his teams (Saints and Freo) who sadly could only muster at best in a GF, a score of 10.8.68, enough for one draw in four goes. One needs to be able to convert control of the footy into scoreboard pressure, and not sure the Suns have worked out how to do that yet under Dew.

 

[The 747]

I defended them last week but they were horrible yesterday.

Every year they play well to start and then go to water in the second half of the season which means they start every year from ground zero again.

I don't really know where to start with them, you can look at teams like North and Essendon and Hawthorn and say OK they need more talent. Or you look at Carlton and say OK they need a defensive system.

Probably what the Suns need is experienced AFL players around the kids, a key forward like Tom Lynch, some GOP like Caddy etc, a productive midfielder like Prestia, a key mid like Jaeger O'meara and a defensive general like say Steven May.

 

[Johnny Karate]

So what does that mean? Unfit? Can't run out the season? That's still on the coach and fitness staff.

Sure they've had injuries to key players, but who hasn't.

Could be all of the above but the fact it predates Dew’s tenure speaks to something rotten at the core of the club. I’m not going to write an essay defending Dew, obviously if you’re only winning a handful of games each year and are largely uncompetitive the axe will come. However, I’m sceptical that sacking him means that they’ll come good, this isn’t a Mark Neeld he’s destroying the fabric of the club type situation. People are suggesting that Clarkson, Buckley or B Scott could go in and turn it around and perhaps they could but it isn’t as though the Hawks are flying or that Buckley and Scott left their clubs in awesome positions.

This is a good stat.

Gold Coast consistently play a lot of kids and early draft kids as their players leave, forcing them to play new kids. These kids definitely have talent (as they normal show at other clubs), but the not the deep fitness continual, repetitive pre-seasons bring. They need good players to stay/come-in and develop a deep fitness base that allows season long effort.

They are going to get smashed a few more times before the season is over by older, hardened teams. A nearly 10 goal loss today with Port looking like they didn't try to hard.

This is a good hypothesis being that youth and the player retention issues make them brittle. That said, they’ve had an air of softness about them since inception. Even when the Giants were a bunch of kids and old farts getting their arses handed to them on a regular basis in season 1 & 2, they had a bit of s**t about them.

It’s pretty glib to say but the Suns seem like a bunch of nice guys who enjoy collecting a pay cheque with minimal scrutiny.

 

[Igavemyloveachicken]

I often wonder if getting Gary Ablett to the Gold Coast was the right decision.
Whilst he was champion at the time, from all accounts he is a bit reserved and even shy in nature. Sometimes the best leaders aren't necessarily the best player like Nick Maxwell at Collingwood.
In hindsight a leader like Luke Hodge may have been a better fit, someone that has obvious talent but is more vocal and demanding with their leadership.

 

[masai]

I often wonder if getting Gary Ablett to the Gold Coast was the right decision.
Whilst he was champion at the time, from all accounts he is a bit reserved and even shy in nature. Sometimes the best leaders aren't necessarily the best player like Nick Maxwell at Collingwood.
In hindsight a leader like Luke Hodge may have been a better fit, someone that has obvious talent but is more vocal and demanding with their leadership.

Agreed.

For all of Abletts talent, instead of bringing the player group together, I think he created a division.

Maxwell would have been laughed at by many at the time, but within a couple of seasons, his stabilising influence would have been applauded.

 

[Dangerousfield]

Luke Parker would be ideal, not only a very good player but a leader by example and from a rock solid club and several good years left in him. He's a FA I think. AFL are probably working on a nice package for him right now

 

[madrigal]

They need to change their name to North Queensland and call themselves the North Queensland Suns.

They can merge with North and become the North Queensland Roos and then they can have a very fitting initialism.

 

[Gavin Excell]

How is the club viewed within its local community?

 

[Rod Stroker]

Could be all of the above but the fact it predates Dew’s tenure speaks to something rotten at the core of the club. I’m not going to write an essay defending Dew, obviously if you’re only winning a handful of games each year and are largely uncompetitive the axe will come. However, I’m sceptical that sacking him means that they’ll come good, this isn’t a Mark Neeld he’s destroying the fabric of the club type situation. People are suggesting that Clarkson, Buckley or B Scott could go in and turn it around and perhaps they could but it isn’t as though the Hawks are flying or that Buckley and Scott left their clubs in awesome positions.

There are very few coaches who leave the club in "awesome positions" when they exit. Usually because they are being pushed out, or they jump before being pushed.

GC need someone strong to fix culture and standards. Hence a Buckley or even a Lyon. I'm not huge fans of either of them, but they would at least make them competitive.