Gold Coast Suns

The first application for a license by a Gold Coast team to enter the AFL was made in 1996 by the wealthy and popular Gold Coast based Southport Sharks club (formed 1961), with an excess of 20,000 members, the on-field QAFL powerhouse made a formal bid to the AFL. However, the AFL declined the license in favour of admitting the Port Adelaide Football Club. There was strong opposition from the majority of the QAFL clubs and supporters, and the AFL felt that the popular Sharks brand, and its reliance on gaming and hospitality revenue, could divide rather than unite the Gold Coast community. In 2006, the AFL attempted to negotiate a merger between the Sharks and a Melbourne-based club. The AFL made the Gold Coast a primary target for a proposed relocation of the North Melbourne Football Club which had sold some of its home games there. The league pushed for a merger with the Sharks offering significant financial incentives, however North Melbourne blocked the move and the AFL decided that a new license would be the best avenue for moving forward. On 24 December 2007, the AFL obtained Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) registration for the name "Gold Coast Football Club Ltd".[2][3] In March 2008 the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club presidents to establish sides on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney.[4][5] Shortly thereafter the AFL invited the Sharks to become part of a consortium, and the club made a $150,000 donation and sought to meet the strict criteria set down for inclusion by the AFL.[6] As part of the winning bid, the Sharks contributed $10 million in corporate sponsorship. However the AFL officially ruled out use of the Sharks nickname (along with other nominations including the Dolphins and Pirates) for the new club, despite them being the highest polling choices of AFL supporters.[7] The club's identity was put to a public nomination and voting process with the Marlins and Stingrays being the most popular of the available options among community stakeholders. In response to the poll, however the AFL announced that it would not adopt any of the community suggested names and the team would initially remain unnamed and that the nickname would evolve. However it was later leaked that the AFL's marketing department had already chosen the Suns brand independent of the community consultation.[8]

The new club was formally granted the license to compete in the AFL on 31 March 2009.[9]

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou announced the club could debut in the Queensland State League in 2009 as it recruited players and prepared for its debut season in the AFL, which the league scheduled for 2011.[10] Marquee AFL players such as Nick Riewoldt,[11] Lance Franklin[12] and Kurt Tippett[13] were speculated as potential signings for Gold Coast, though all three men ended up re-signing with their existing clubs. In June 2008 it was announced that the new team would play in the TAC Cup in 2009 and the Victorian Football League in 2010 ahead of its entry into the AFL in 2011.[14] Later that year the board of business-people who had been appointed to set up the club, and were known as the GC17 bid, appointed WAFL coach and former West Coast player Guy McKenna as senior coach.[15] Essendon administrator Travis Auld was selected as head of the GC17 board, and would go on to lead the club in an off-field capacity for several years.[16][17]

The AFL were able to successfully negotiate with the Queensland Government to redevelop Carrara Stadium as the club's new home ground. The announcement of the redevelopment, of which a small portion was funded by the AFL, was made in May 2009.[18] On 22 July 2010 club administrators announced that the club would be known as the Gold Coast Suns, and adopt the colours red, gold and blue.[19]

The club's newly assembled junior squad competed in the 2009 TAC Cup under 18 competition and won most of their games, eventually finishing in 5th place. They defeated the Northern Knights in the elimination final but then lost their semi final to the Geelong Falcons. Below is the inaugural VFL as a team to play for the Gold Coast Football Club, as well as a table of results and fixture for the 2009 and 2010 seasons:[20][21]

Inaugural TAC Cup team

Source: 2009 TAC Cup Season Results

2010: VFL
In November 2009 the team signed twelve 17-year-olds around the country to compete in the Victorian Football League (VFL) year through the under age access rules. These players included Luke Russell (Burnie), Maverick Weller (Burnie), Taylor Hine (Calder), Josh Toy (Calder), Matt Shaw (Dandenong), Piers Flanagan (Geelong), Hayden Jolly (Glenelg), Alex Keath (Murray), Jack Hutchins (Sandringham), Tom Nicholls (Sandringham), Brandon Matera (South Fremantle), Trent McKenzie (Western Jets).

The Gold Coast was also given permission (by the AFL) to play David Swallow in 2010, despite not being the correct age. The deal that was struck with the AFL stated that Swallow would still need to go through the 2010 AFL Draft to officially join the team, while the other under age recruits contracts would run through 2011.

These are the results and fixture for the 2010 season, in which the club competed in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[23]

Inaugural VFL team

Source: 2010 VFL Season Results

Concessions on entry into the AFL

Players acquired through concessions

Initial 2011 playing squad recruitment

Guy McKenna would continue to coach the team throughout the 2011 season and beyond, after successfully guiding the club through its journey in the TAC Cup and VFL in 2009 and 2010. The Suns would play their first four "home" games of the 2011 AFL season at the Gabba in Brisbane, whilst their home stadium (Metricon Stadium) underwent final redevelopment works.

Michael Rischitelli was instrumental in the club's first winning game with 31 disposals and 2 goals against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in Round 5 of the 2011 season.

Gold Coast had a bye in Round 1, and played its first AFL game debuted in Round 2 on 2 April 2011 against Carlton at the Gabba in front of a crowd of 27,914. The first five goals were scored by Carlton, before Charlie Dixon scored the first-ever goal for the Gold Coast Suns. Carlton went on to win by 119 points. Gold Coast won its first game in Round 5 on 23 April 2011, defeating Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. Gold Coast trailed by 40 points late in the third quarter, before coming back to win by three points, after Port Adelaide's Justin Westhoff missed a set shot after the siren.[36] Michael Rischitelli was the best on ground. Gold Coast won two more matches for the season, winning the inaugural QClash against Brisbane Lions in Round 7 by eight points (which became the most-watched AFL match on pay television ever),[37] and defeating Richmond by 15 points in Round 17 in the first AFL match ever played at Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns. However, the Suns also suffered several more very heavy defeats during the year, including a 139-point loss to Essendon in Round 6 – in which Essendon scored a record 15.4 (94) in the first quarter – and a 150-point loss against Geelong in Round 20. The Suns went on to win the wooden spoon.

Gold Coast endured a poor pre-season in 2012 which included a 13-point loss to fellow AFL newcomers Greater Western Sydney. Their solitary win in that time was a narrow win over Melbourne in the triangular round of the 2012 NAB Cup.

The home-and-away season did not begin well for the Suns either, losing their first fourteen matches in succession to be the only winless team after Round 15 of the 2012 AFL season. Among the losses included losses by more than ninety points to Collingwood and St Kilda (twice), seven-point losses to Fremantle and North Melbourne at home and a 27-point loss to the newest AFL franchise, Greater Western Sydney. Their fourteen losses to start the season was the worst by any team since Fremantle lost its first 17 matches of the 2001 season. Their horror start to the season ended in round 16 with a narrow 2-point win against Richmond. They had a lead of up to 36 points halfway through the second quarter, which then shrank to 24 points after 2 quick goals before half time from Richmond. Richmond then had a six to two goal quarter, snatching the lead back. The lead then went to 18 points Richmond's way before Gold Coast snatched it back to just 4. With 5 seconds left, a kick from the right forward pocket in Gold Coast's 50 was marked by Karmichael Hunt. After the siren sounded he kicked the goal to make Gold Coast 2-point winners.[38]

Gary Ablett Jr was Gold Coast's inaugural marquee player and captain

The Suns then won two more matches for the season, a 30-point win against Greater Western Sydney in Round 20 and a 12-point upset win over Carlton in Round 22, both at home. The team finished 17th at the end of the season, only above Greater Western Sydney on the AFL ladder. In November 2012 the club announced their "20-ONE-3" plan that targeted signing twenty thousand members and winning a premiership within three years - by the conclusion of the 2015 AFL season. The plan was criticised as being overly ambitious.[39] By the end of the 20-ONE-3 period, the Suns had a highest membership of 13,643 (achieved in 2015) and a highest ladder position of 12 (10 wins - achieved in 2014).

In the 2013 AFL season Gold Coast made a much improved effort, highlighted by victories over seasoned opponents in Collingwood, St Kilda, the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne. Their improvement on the past two seasons was so stark that they were considered possibilities of securing an unlikely finals berth up until the final round after Essendon lost all their premiership points.[40] The Suns finished with 8 wins for the season and ended the season placed 14th on the ladder. Captain Gary Ablett won his second Brownlow Medal, the first such medalist to win the award at the club.

Despite losing veterans Jared Brennan and Campbell Brown ahead of the 2014 season, some experts predicted Gold Coast to "give the top 8 (finals) a nudge",[41] though the general consensus was that the Suns would likely finish around 13th.[42] Though beginning the season promisingly and entering Round 11 with a 7–2 record following impressive wins on the road against Melbourne, North Melbourne (who had defeated minor premiers Sydney three weeks earlier), and St Kilda, the Suns would stumble severely through the second half of the season. After captain Gary Ablett was injured in a win over Collingwood in round 16, the club went on to lose the next two matches, including one in the QClash against Brisbane. In round 19, the club recorded its inaugural win without their captain, defeating St Kilda. The club went on to lose the remaining matches of the season, finishing in 12th. Inaugural coach Guy McKenna was sacked at season's end, leaving the club after 88 games in charge and winning just over 25% of them.[43]

Following McKenna's departure, the Suns announced Rodney Eade as their new coach. Eade had coached the Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs to multiple finals series and was regarded by some pundits as a good choice to push the Suns into a maiden finals campaign.[44] In his first season, Eade made the decision to rush back Gary Ablett Jr into the side, which led to the on-field targeting of the star midfielder, whilst key position players Charlie Dixon and Harley Bennell were traded to other clubs as the Suns lost their opening four games and never recovered, finishing the 2015 season in 16th place with only four wins.[44] The club started the 2016 season with three consecutive wins and defeated minor premiers Fremantle, giving the impression it was on the verge of achieving sustained on-field success.[45] However it would only win a further three matches for the season and Ablett was again sidelined with a serious shoulder injury, whilst other players were lost to a combination of injury and suspension.[44] The Suns hit the mid-to-late stage of the following season in reasonable form with a 6–8 win–loss record, though disastrously lost their last eight matches and finished in 15th place.[46] Divisions between some of the players and Eade's cautious game-style emerged and by Round 19 club officials sacked Eade, citing a poor win–loss record.[47] Eade's departure was exacerbated at the end of the season by Ablett's request to be traded back to his original club Geelong, despite having another year to serve on his contract with the club.[48]

The club appointed Port Adelaide and Hawthorn premiership player Stuart Dew as coach ahead of the 2018 season. Under Dew, the Suns adopted a draft strategy of recruiting young players, which in part contributed to a second-last finish in 2018 and last place finish in 2019, the latter being the club's second wooden spoon. David Swallow was appointed captain in 2019 and emerging talent such as Izak Rankine and Matt Rowell showed signs of propelling the club to better results in the future, though Rankine left the club in 2022 to play with Adelaide. Following their best win-loss record in 2022 (10 wins for a 12th placed finish), the club stagnated on the field in 2023 and again failed to make finals. On 11 July 2023, Suns officials announced that Stuart Dew would no longer be the coach after two consecutive losses to Collingwood and Port Adelaide that eliminated them from finals contention.[49] Dew finished with 30.17% winning record over six seasons with the club.[50] Steven King was appointed interim coach for the remainder of the season.

On 21 August 2023, the club announced that three-time Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick had signed on as coach of the senior team for six years.[51]

The three types of guernseys are:

• Home guernsey (worn since 2012): Red and gold based guernsey with the club logo in the middle. Hostplus sponsor on front and Cover-More sponsor on back (home shorts worn in home games and away pants shorts in away games).
• Away guernsey (worn since 2019): Blue Jersey Cover-More sponsor on front and Hostplus sponsor on back (away shorts worn).
• Clash guernsey (worn since 2016): White based guernsey with an arrow-shaped design which goes down to the bottom, coloured blue, gold and two shades of grey. Cover-More sponsor on front and Hostplus sponsor on back (away shorts worn). No longer worn as of 2019.

The Suns' Mascot Manor representative and club mascot is "Sunny Ray". In June 2018 the Suns introduced their new mascot, "Skye".

The team song is "Suns of the Gold Coast Sky".[64][65]

The club's primary home ground is Carrara Stadium (known for commercial purposes as "Heritage Bank Stadium"), where they play home matches and train outdoors.[66] The club's indoor training and administrative facilities are located at the adjacent Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre.[67]

The Gold Coast Suns have a local rivalry with fellow Queensland AFL team the Brisbane Lions. The two teams contest the "QClash" twice each season. The first QClash was held in 2011, with Gold Coast winning by 8 points; the game established the highest pay TV audience ever for an AFL game, with a total of 354,745 viewers watching the game.[37]

The medal for the player adjudged best on ground is known as the Marcus Ashcroft Medal. It is named after former footballer Marcus Ashcroft, who played junior football on the Gold Coast for Southport and 318 VFL/AFL games for the Brisbane Bears/Lions between 1989 and 2003. He later joined Gold Coast's coaching staff and was the first Queenslander to play 300 VFL/AFL games.[68] Lion Dayne Beams has won the medal three times, the most by any player.

The trophy awarded to the winner of the game is currently known as the "QClash Trophy". The trophy is a traditional-looking silver cup with a wooden base and a plaque. The plaque's inscription reads from left to right, "Brisbane Lions AFC, QCLASH, Gold Coast Suns FC".[69]

^ Denotes the ladder was split into two conferences. Figure refers to the club's overall finishing position in the home-and-away season.