McKenna: Experience only solution for struggling Suns
INAUGURAL Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna says the addition of another two top draft picks to the Suns won’t be the answer to the battling club’s on-field woes.
Gold Coast is bottom of the ladder with a 3-12 record after opening the season with three wins to Round 4.
Suns chairman Tony Cochrane confirmed on Monday the club would ask for draft assistance to help strengthen its list and retain players.
But McKenna, who was coach of Gold Coast from 2011-2014, said the club needed more mature-age talent, rather than young stars, to haul itself out of a “nasty cycle”.
“Unfortunately, they have just stayed young,” McKenna said on SEN.
“I remember my last year, we played the Bombers in our second last game. In four years in the AFL it was the least experienced team we had put out. How does that work four years into a competition?”
The Suns had three draft picks in the top six last year (Jack Lukosius, Izak Rankine and Ben King) and four top-10 selections in the 2016 draft (Ben Ainsworth, Jack Scrimshaw, Will Brodie and Jack Bowes).
In 2017, they traded the second pick in the draft to Fremantle for Lachie Weller.
“I used to be very critical of Scotty Clayton at the time to say, ‘Mate, we have had 75 picks in the top 100, can we just get some more mature boys to put around (them)’,” McKenna said.
McKenna said the lack of experience was obvious when 18-year-old Jesse Lonergan captained the club’s NEAFL team. “That just shouldn’t happen. He’s an 18-year-old running around and captaining the twos,” he said.