Slick Suns turn up the heat on hapless Adelaide

TO butcher the title of a 1969 hit from The Beatles – here come the Suns.

And they’re all right.

The Gold Coast have had their fair share of false dawns in their short history but the one-time whipping boys of the AFL drew a line in the sand with an emphatic 53-point thumping of the atrocious Adelaide at Metricon Stadium yesterday.

It was the first time that the Suns had ever beaten the

Crows. Adelaide failed to register any score in the opening quarter to make it the first time the Suns had ever kept an opponent scoreless in a term.

Boom 18-year-old Matt Rowell provided more clips for the highlight reel with two spectacular goals while key forward Ben King booted three goals for the home side in the 12.10 (82) to 4.5 (29) win.

The Crows are in crisis and it is hard to see any other side collecting the wooden spoon. They only narrowly avoided their lowest-ever score of 24 points from Round against St Kilda.

The final margin flattered Adelaide. Rowell was best-onground again with 20 disposals, 12 contested possessions, three clearances, 10 tackles and three inside 50 entries to go with his two goals.

But he had plenty of help all over the ground with co-captain Jarrod Witts, Brandon Ellis, Ben King, Touk Miller, Lachie Weller, Hugh Greenwood and Queensland product Connor Budarick among the best in an outstanding collec18, tive effort. They looked on track to challenge their biggest ever win – 86 points over Hawthorn in Round 3, 2017 – but the fourth term turned into junk time with the four premiership points sealed.

The Suns led by 58 points at the last change after continuing the carnage in the third quarter with the high point being an Ablett-esque goal from Darcy Macpherson who was against the boundary line with no angle to work with but managed to steer the ball home.