ZAC’S A TRUE SUN
The Suns may be enduring another tough season but fans everywhere are sticking loyal to the club, as Tom Boswell discovers
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OUNG Suns member Zac Broughton was on his way to Tasmania to watch his team play when Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett quizzed him about the team he supports.
Kennett, who sat next to the nine-year-old on the flight south, asked Zac if he would barrack for a new team after moving to Melbourne at the start of 2017 considering the ample amount of successful Victorian clubs who had enormous supporter bases compared to the struggling Queensland club.
“No way am I going to do that,” Zac told Kennett.
“We don’t have a lot of supporters because it needs kids like me to grow up to become them.”
There in essence was what father Richard Broughton said would be the making of the Suns.
“I supported Adelaide and took Zac to his first footy game at Metricon between the Crows and Suns thinking he would jump on board with my club,” Broughton said.
“He picked the Gold Coast, which is fine and I wasn’t going to stop him.
“We even sat next to the Adelaide player’s race so he could get a feel for the players but when we left he was a Suns supporter.
“The club is great with kids and always get the players involved with engaging with them. That will be the secret to them in the long term.
“There is a lot of criticism about the low supporter numbers but a lot of people like myself have already got a side when they come to the Gold Coast. It has to be through the kids when they grow up.
“Zac has probably converted a dozen of his friends to become Suns fans and three took up playing the game.”
Broughton, who moved to Melbourne at the start of 2017 with Zac and wife Heather after five years on the Gold Coast, conceded the Suns had even become his preferred team over the Crows. Zac now plays for the South Melbourne Districts Football Club and became the first in it’s history to request a Suns-style mouthguard.
He cops flak from Victorian rivals but the staunch supporter is proud to brandish his yellow and red guard.
The Suns players all take the time to chat to Zac, who travels to many games around the country with Broughton, and former player Matt Shaw – now at Carlton – was a surprise guest at one of his birthday parties.
Broughton said the benefits of capturing the imagination of young fans was they boasted eternal optimism.
“Zac will never leave a game early, he just refuses,” Broughton said. “He will always clap them off and his dream is to see them come good. He is sure of it.”
Broughton said he believed Gold Coast still had a tough road ahead before reaching any success.
“Until they can get players that want to be there it’s going to be a hard road,” he said.
“They have the right backing now with the hierarchy. Was the last coach (Rodney Eade) the right one? Probably not. But chatting to players about Stuart Dew, they love him and he’s brought the family connection they need.’
Broughton conceded some members can be too emotional when it comes to winning and losing but voiced his desire to see the Suns send cocaptain Tom Lynch to the draft in order to send a strong message to the competition.
“I don’t like free agency,” Broughton said.
“To me all it’s done is make the stronger teams stronger.”
Broughton said he wanted the Suns to offer Steven May, out of contract next season, a new deal before the end of this year and if he wasn’t committed then trade him.
Gold Coast-based member Cherrene Palmer said times may have been tough but she remains confident.
“As a fan you support the team no matter what,” she said. “That is what every team needs, especially one as young as the Suns.”
ZAC HAS PROBABLY CONVERTED A DOZEN OF HIS FRIENDS TO BECOME SUNS SUPPORTERS RICHARD BROUGHTON