Suns and Hanley fail to shine
IT WAS a weekend of contrasting fortunes for Pearce Hanley and Zach Tuohy in round one of the 2017 season. On Saturday, the Gold Coast Suns had their pockets pinched 98-96 by the Brisbane Lions under new coach Chris Fagan in the Queensland derby at Metricon Stadium. The visitors led by 47 points before Gold Coast fought back to level the scores midway through the final term. Hanley, 28, who has produced some of the best performances of his AFL career in previous derbies for the Lions, was out of sorts struggled to make any meaningful impact on his debut for the Suns. The Mayo man collected just 17 disposals (11 kicks and six handballs) and made four marks. Suns’ coach Rodney Eade was shocked by his side’s poor first quarter which he branded “an aberration” post-match. “They were sharper, had more numbers to the ball and used the ball extremely well,” Eade said. “We didn’t put enough pressure on and that was the game wasn’t it, that first 20 minutes. Across the country, Portlaoise defender Zach Tuohy, 27, booted a stunning goal on the stroke of half-time to help Geelong to an impressive 115-73 victory against Fremantle. In a bad tempered contest Geelong effectively ended the contest by taking a 39 point lead following a series of horror mistakes in the Dockers defence. New Fremantle skipper Nat Fyfe (28 disposals, one goal) and ruckman Aaron Sandilands (48 hit-outs) tried their best to lift Fremantle, but poor turnovers cost them dearly. Tuohy finished with 24 disposals (16 kicks and eight handballs) and made six marks.