Young Suns urged to rise

GOLD Coast has recalled Gary Ablett and Matt Rosa to bolster its on-field leadership but say the team must find more players prepared to take responsibility for the side’s fortunes.

The Suns v West Coast at Metricon Stadium tomorrow is a meeting of the two sides in the competition with the biggest gap between their best and worst football. Both have problems travelling.

When momentum swings against the Suns it is too often just a handful, namely David Swallow, Tom Lynch, Steven May and Jarrod Harbrow, who are prepared to stand and fight.

While those players are naturally fierce competitors, coach Rodney Eade says he needs more players who can give directions and make demands of their teammates.

“Leadership to me is not about one of two players, it needs to be across the board,’’ he said. “We need to spread our base a bit wider.’’

The Suns ran up the white flag against Melbourne in Alice Springs as the Demons kicked 14 of the last 18 goals to turn a 30point deficit into a 35-point win.

The Suns are now 3-6 and another season of promise has almost been wasted.

The poor performance heaped new pressure on Eade.

However, he said the side had shown in the win against Geelong where they withstood a Cats fightback that they knew how to fight.

Eade said his job as a coach was to educate the players to take more responsibility when momentum shifted in a game.

“We’re a young team, a young leadership group and we need to improve in those areas,” he said.

Gary Ablett returns