Calls for ‘spirit’ to shine at the Suns
FOUNDATION Gold Coast player Campbell Brown has urged the Suns to “get a bit of spirit in the joint” in order to win the respect of local fans.
Speaking after Suns co-captain Tom Lynch yesterday dragged out the old chestnut of needing to earn the respect of the Coast community, Brown said the only way this can happen is for the team to win and end the search for consistency.
“They’ve been sensational in patches this year,” Brown said from Melbourne.
“They had a great win against Geelong and they’ve demolished Hawthorn twice but then they go out and lose when they should have won – like Collingwood last weekend, against Carlton and against Brisbane.”
Asked what it needs for the Suns to find that consistency and energy, Brown replied: “They’ve got to get a bit of spirit in the joint.
“They have a bit of work to do, no doubt about that. It’s their seventh season and most people would have expected the Suns would have made the finals by now – it looks like it won’t happen this year either.”
Brown, who was sacked by the Suns after his well-publicised punch on teammate Steven May in December, 2013, believes the lack of a proper development program in the club’s early days has hindered progress of younger players.
Lynch conceded the Suns have spoken about earning the respect of fans far too many times over the years.
It is time, the star full-forward said, to shrug off the upand-down performances that blunt a finals charge and to make that respect happen.
“You are right, we have spoken about it for far too long now but we know we have to keep trying, getting rid of the inconsistencies,” he said.
“I think we are improving on that and we are heading in the right direction. It’s a matter of just narrowing them out now.”
Lynch revealed that everybody at the Suns is “sick of it”.
“We’re all frustrated whether it’s Ben Ainsworth who has just walked in here or myself and I’ve been here since the start,” Lynch said.
“So as a club we are frustrated and we are sick of it.
“We’ve just got to keep training, keep putting ourselves in those (winning) situations in games and get it right.
“It has been going for far too long but we believe if we keep at it, keep at it, we’ll get there and I’d like to say it will happen this week.
“We’ve shown in games this year when we’ve played well and we can see it’s there. It’s just about making sure we do it every week.
“The thing is we can’t lose faith, we have to stick tight and continue training and trying to play the way we want to play.”
The Suns are playing premiers Western Bulldogs in Cairns on Saturday afternoon in a Bulldogs home match.