<div dir="ltr">If you havent already done so you can check out all the reviews that we have posted so far<a href="http://tooserious.net/category/reviews" target="_blank"> HERE[/url] If you would like to contribute and review a team that hasnt already been published please let me know in the comments and i will be in touch. Anyway thats enough from me, with thanks to Sainter who stepped upto the plate to do the Suns review its time we got into it.
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<div dir="ltr">Well, the Gold Coast Suns had their first AFL season, which included just the 3 AFL wins from the 22 games, with wins coming against Brisbane (15th), Port Adelaide (16th) and Richmond (12th). It doesnt look good with 3 wins in their first season, Bluey McKenna was obviously getting games into the young blokes, and Gary Ablett didnt kick on until a few rounds in, but their were plus coming from a season where 46 players played. Out of the 46 players, about 34 had never played AFL before, including NRL recruit Karmichael Hunt.

They won their first game against Port Adelaide in Round 5 at AAMI Stadium against Port Adelaide, which showed positive signs for the future, coming back from 40 points behind late in the 3rd quarter. Well you might ask, who stood up and helped the win, who kicked the goals? At the end of the 3rd quarter, goals were kicked by Captain and recruit Gary Ablett and youngster Luke Russell. Goals from GC in the last quarter came from (in order), Dixon, Dixon, Matera, Bennell, Matera, Russell (winning goal). All of the last quarter goals came from players in their first season, thats a positive sign for sure.


<div dir="ltr">Over the break Sainter continues a quick review of the season and then gets into reviewing the key players performances.
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<div dir="ltr">Gold Coasts first season in the AFL was a success, poaching arguably the best player in the competition and winning a few gaames while they were at it puts them in a good position for the future. After only 1 season, Trent McKenzie has already been given the nickname The Cannon with his long goals from 60+ metres out, and others including Brandon Matera, Zac Smith, David Swallow and Trent McKenzie all getting rising star noinations throughout the season.

Gold Coasts 2 leading goalkickers danny Stanley (20) and Gary Ablett (18) have played AFL before, while Tom Lynch, Brandon Matera, Harley Bennell, Zac Smith and Trent McKenzie round out the top 7 as first year players. David Swallow finished 10th, the youngsters really stood up which is normally hard to ask for 18 and 19 year old players but they did it. Gold Coast got thumped on numerous occasions, but some positives came from a couple of out comes with an 18 point loss to 4th placed West Coast, a 22 point loss to the Western Bulldogs who finished 4th last season, coming within 20 points of 6th/7th placed St Kilda, getting within 5 goals of the Melbourne Demons who finished 13th and a 9 point loss in Round 24 against 3rd placed Hawthorn Hawks, who rested 8 players which almost backfired. Also didnt get blown out by 100+ points against 1st and 2nd teams Collingwood and Geelong like many expected, and lost by about 60 and 50 points.


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THE GOOD

Gary Ablett - What can I say? There was talk on "whos going to block for him" and "whos going to help him, give him support" up in Gold Coast. There was talk on him not being as good, or maybe just having Campbell Brown/Daniel Harris blocking for him, well, did he really need the blocking? He hasnt got a large amount of it, and has proved critics wrong that it was right to move, and he could improve his game and become a better player even more at such an inexperienced side. He made the Top 10 SCers of this year (6th) with an average of 127ppg which puts him 2nd behind just Pendlebury of this whole year (keep in mind Ablett had the score of 19 when he was injured). Probably the most conistsent scorer in the League (Pendles up there too) with just 4 scores under 100, 3 of which were in the first 5 games or so, two of them were 90s, one in the 70s. The other one was his 19 score when he got injured, taking that out, he didnt get bewlow 100 since Round 8 Hes been great this year again, averaging a total of 30.2 disposals a game, including his tally of 3 disposals when he got injured early on. Ablett has been great in SC, with 10 scores above 130 points, with another 4 in the 120s. Thats certainly elite, and will get better next year with Zac Smith more experienced in the Ruck, and with David Swallow and Trent McKenzie being more experienced around him in the Middle too. A lock next year in the Midfield. Has averaged 32 more ppg of the next closest GCS player, which is Michael Rischitelli averaging 95.

Michael Rischitelli - Was one of Gold Coasts targets to poach, and they got him, was very good early in the season when Gaz was getting the feel of things at the new club. Won Brisbanes BestnFairest last year, and this year has averaged 95 ppg. Been a bit HiLo this year, but has still been Gold Coasts 2nd best player in terms of averages this year. Next year, would be a major POD and a bit of a risk IMO, better players out there for his price.

Nathan Bock- Has held the whole Gold Coast Backline together for much of the year, with Tape (13 games), Hutchins (6 games), Coad (2 games) and Jeremy Taylor (2 games) the only other tallish players to help him out down there, that meaning hes had to take the best tall forward EVERY single week and has still not let that effect the attacking side of his game, averaging 93ppg over the season, and has been selected by 31,000 odd teams this year, a big POD, and will probably be one for next year too. And with more experience to Taylor if un-injured and if Tape can get a bigger body, hell score well even more.

Jared Brennan - Was wondering where to put him, but as Gold Coasts 4th best scorer and an average of 87, I thought hed JUST sneak into the Good section, maybe sort of good though. His scores towards the pointy end of the season havent been too great, he has had no score above 100 since Round 15, but has still 2 in the 90s, 4 in the 80s, and one less than 70, a few in the 70s. But before that, he averaged 98 ppg before Round 16 and taking away his shocking effort in Round 1 (18 SC). Would be a risk next year, and I probably woudnt reccomend it. He had a good patch early on, but a run of 2 moonths or so really dragged down his average, but still, if the magic number is 5400 next year, hed be around 470k, overpriced I think, which will be about 100k pricier than the start of this year.

Danny Stanley - Was delisted by Collingwood a few years back as there was no opportunity to break into the Backline with Maxwell, HarryO, Prestigiacomo, H.Shaw, R.Shaw (then traded soon after?) with N.Brown and Reid up and coming. This year has been very good at rookie price and has put more exprience into the Gold Coast team. he has averaged 77, and although it doesnt look that good to be in this column, I reckon he deserves it, was at rookie price and earned a lot of cash for the owners who took him, and averaging 77 along the way is quite good for a back up. However probably not one to look at, at all next year as at rookie price he was good, but cant see him averaging much more then 80-85. Especially when hell be nearing 400k (pending magic number)

Sam Iles - Got his career up and running again, and was definitely in Gold Coasts best 22 once he got over his injury, and averaged 72 from his 16 games, often went unnoticed and never topped 100, but he was consistent and gave a good owngrade option and bench coverae while scoring around 70-90 quite often. His season was alright and definitely gave Gold Coast more experience as did Stanley.

THE BAD

Daniel Harris - A little hard to pick the "Bad" section in a team where 80% of players are in the first or second year.
Made his return to AFL, played 1 games and has now retired again. Averaged 69, was good early on with scores of 109, 107 and 114 before Round 7, but then mostly went with 30-80 for most of the season after that. I dont think it was UGLY, bad it definitely wasnt good, with the first few games quite good, the rest of the season quite bad. got injured, and had issues off the field relating his grand father which meant missing quite a few games. Is retired now.

Brendon Matera - Has come in and out of the side, practically won Gold Coasts first game with 4 goals, averaged 61, two scores over 100 (both over 120) and the rest have been under 70 other than a 94. Hard to put a first year player in, but a bit like Siposs from halfway through the season at St Kilda, most people picked up Matera and he didnt quite live up to it, playing only 12 games, but did reach a high of almost 300k which I suspect most traded him then. Not an ugly season, as probably in and out to get Gold Coasts other youngsters in, but has been putting pressure in the forward line so Ive decided to put him in here.

Josh Toy - Like Matera, I think many thought hed play close to every single game in the year and at 110k a good reserves buy. That was a fail, playing only 8 games for a return of 47ppg and a highest score of 72. Is now only 180k and didnt provide any value to upgrade. Bad season but I dont think his season was UGLY! It was a bit rotational and an 18/19 year olds were always going to get rotated around and get more time in the ressies. A bit of improvement for him, but he wasnt bad like turning over the ball when he was in, but he wasnt good either. Hard to put him in here but hard to find many that have a bad season compared to ugly with the youngsters especially. Only JUST slides into Bad.

THE UGLY

Jarrod Harbrow - Harbrow crossed from the Bulldogs last year, but this year I dont think he has settled in well, and has not improved as much as he would have if he was at the Bulldogs still. Ive seen glimpses of him recently that suggests hes on the improve again and is run and carrying to more effect then earlier in the year. Has averaged only 76 points per game, which has been worse than Danny Stanley,and from memory averaged mid 80s to 90 last year, so a bad drop this year. Ithink a reason for his drop has been Gold Coasts lack of experienced Defenders which means hes been playing more defensive then attacking as when he was at the Bulldogs. Hes only topped 100 once this year, so has been very bad, especially for those who picked him up as a quiet POD at the start of the year. If youre even considering him, look for him in the NAB Cup, make sure hes run and carrying and puts in some decent scores (as can be seen on footywire for NAB Cup scores).

Josh Fraser - Looked to be Gold Coasts number 1 ruckman and was probably picked up by a few as many thought hed do well at a cheap starting price of around 200k. He has averaged 74ppg and has only played 16 games this year. Crossed from Collingwood, and this didnt turn out too well, but at times he has been good back up for Smith who has become the number 1 ruck, 101 was his highest score and wouldve been traded off early for whoever took a punt on him. At 30 years old next year and Smith looking a better option at around 205cm tall, Frasers career is almost over, looks like hell be kept as back up just in case something happens to Smith. Shouldnt be picked by anyone next year in my opinion.

Nathan Krakouer - Came from Port Adelaide, had a few good games, but was extremely up and down and even still struggled to find a spot in a team of 18 year olds, playing only 13 games and averaging 47, was to a few "bargain" price at 270k, that didnt happen, dropping 99k this year and down to 170k. He had one good game of 158, and other then that, never topped 59. A bad season, but I can see improvement next season, but this season, UGLY!

Charlie Dixon - Very much like Toy, but think Dixon didnt kick on from his solid game against Port, its hard to crticise these young players as they are getting limited time on field as Bluey McKenna wants games into all of his players. Bluey has played 46 players this year, and thats probably the reason for Toy/Dixon not playing as much. Not sure if Dixon injured himself too, but also remember that GCS had Day and Lynch developing up forward too. Anyway, to the stats, Dixon played 10 games and averaged just 36 points per game. Highest score from 80 in the game against Port Adelaide, but didnt do much after that.

Karmichael Hunt - His first season in AFL hasnt been that bad, he hasnt been too good but hes certainly done well in his first year. But no sugar coating, this is not about his development as an Australian Rules Football Player, its about SuperCoach and his season has been ugly, however Imprompts the 50k winner had him for the whole season :mrgreen:. Maybe for SuperCoach it was just bad, as he was normally just sitting on peoples bench, and never got high enough to upgrade, so most downgraded (for 20k or so!). His scores were ugly though, highest score of 65 and a season averaged of 37 in 16 games.

AN EYE TO NEXT YEAR

Josh Caddy - A midfielder who has been likened to a young Mark Ricciuto, hard at the ball and is solid for a young kid. Missed almost all of this year with injury, but came in for the final 2 games for an average of 57.50 ppg. Will probably be in there best 22 if he stays fit during the pre-season and gets played regulary in the NAB Cup, then he is one to look out for. Will still be cheap next year with only 2 games played.The stats page has him predicted to be at 244,00 and could average around 70-80 if cements a spot in the team, but chosing a 2nd year player is hard, and only take him if you are certain. But hes definitely one to look out for.

Jeremy Taylor - Played 2 games this year and was very good, averaged 85.5ppg from his 2 games and then did a groin injury which took him out for the rest of the season. For some reason the stats page doesnt have him at all, so not sure what his price will be next year, but if hes rookie priced, then hell probably be a good choice.

THE LOCKS

Gary Ablett - Should be in every team, the stats that were recorded under him in the Good section says it all, will only get better with the younger players getting more experienced around him.

Gary Ablett might be the only absolute Lock, but Nathan Bock IMO is pretty close to it too, could end up being a bit of a POD.

Ill stop here, thanks for reading, it was much tougher than I thought, especially picking the bad, ugly and an eye to next year, as most will be 2nd year players, a few will be over priced, and with 46 players all playing this year you dont know for sure who will have a spot in the team, how many games theyll play exactly etc.

Delisted:
Nathan Ablett
Joel Tippet
Marc Lock
Michael Coad
Jack Stanlake
Jack Stanley
Roland Ah Chee
Jake Crawford

Daniel Harris has already retired.