Hugh’s the boss and so are the Suns’ guns

IN his first showdown against his former teammates, Hugh Greenwood proved why the Crows may regret their decision to let the midfield warrior leave for the Gold Coast.

The basketball convert, who walked away from a deal with the Perth Wildcats in the NBL to join Adelaide in 2015, signed with the Suns during the off-season after the Crows were unwilling to entertain a longer deal.

Yesterday he thrived at the coalface as Gold Coast backed up its Round 2 upset of West Coast by dismantling a woeful Crows for the first time in the side’s history. The Suns had blown the visitors away by half-time when they led 6.7 to 1.2, and Greenwood was a major factor courtesy of a half-high six clearances — four shy of what his former club had in total.

He finished with a gamehigh 13 tackles and equal match-high eight clearances, with Tasmanian teammate Lachie Weller also joining in the fun to continue his strong start to the disrupted 2020 season. Weller amassed 21 disposals, five marks and five tackles, and capped his day with a late goal in the Suns’ 53-point drubbing.

Milestone man Grant Birchall was his usual reliable best as Brisbane ran away from the Eagles on Saturday night.

Playing in his 250th match, the four-time premiership Hawk — who coach Chris Fagan said on Friday is one of the “underrated greats” of Hawthorn’s golden era — had 15 possessions and eight marks across half-back, celebrating in style in his second outing as a Lion.

Hard nut Mitch Robinson was slightly down on his usual output with just 12 touches, but still contributed five tackles.

Aaron Hall had one of his best games in North Melbourne colours, despite the Roos having their unbeaten start to the campaign snapped by Sydney on Saturday.

Hall, who last week had opened up on his experience growing up and dealing with racism, gathered 21 disposals — second for the Roos behind Jy Simpkin — while also chalking up 438 metres gained, with only teammate Jasper Pittard and Swan Jordan Dawson having more.

Only some inaccuracy in front of goals, where he finished with 1.3, blighted what was an otherwise impressive outing.

Roo forward Ben Brown booted the first major of the match and finished with 3.2.