Suns vice-captain backs tyro Andrew
Gold Coast vice-captain Sam Collins has backed “sensational footballer” Mac Andrew to bounce back from a luckless pre-season and recapture a regular place in Damien Hardwick’s side.
Key defender Collins took Andrew under his wing last season and helped show the 20-year-old former first-round pick the ins and outs not just of the position but also what it took to be a professional footballer.
Andrew grew into a reliable third tall in the Suns’ back six by the end of the 2023 season and new coach Hardwick had high hopes for the 201cm talent before a string of bad luck cruelled him.
Andrew was first sidelined with Covid before Christmas and then a hamstring injury. When he returned, he suffered a concussion at training early in the New Year and was again sidelined for a number of weeks.
Already behind his teammates, Andrew was then tested as a key forward by Hardwick in pre-season before the coach declared ahead of Opening Round the experiment was over and the talented tall would return to the backline.
He was left out of the match day squad for Saturday’s 39point win over Richmond – but Collins expects his fellow defender to be back in action sooner rather than later.
“He’s a sensational footballer … he’s going to learn a lot just by playing football, whether it’s in the development team or the AFL team,” Collins said of Andrew.
“The hard thing is you can play him forward, ruck (or) in the backline, so I think if he can really nail his spot and his craft and what he wants to be known as, as a key defender in the AFL, he’ll go a long way.
“I’ve been really impressed with the way he’s working and embracing a slightly different role when it comes up.”