Suns give Dockers the slip in big upset

GOLD Coast coach Stuart Dew says the Suns grew up as a football club after they claimed their second win over a top eight side in a fortnight with a comprehensive 36-point victory over Fremantle at Metricon Stadium on Sunday.

After putting the Swans to the sword in Sydney, the Suns manhandled the secondplaced Dockers in wet and wild weather to snap Fremantle’s six-game winning streak and move to the mid-table traffic jam with a 4-5 record.

“It’s also the way we go about it that’s important to us and the maturity to back up a win, which hasn’t been our strength before, but I think we’re built a little bit different this year,’’ Dew said.

“We talked about that before the game. We’ve been seeing signs, we got rewarded last week so it was important to go again this week . . . home game, another top-four, top-six team.

“We were a bit flat to start, the first 15 minutes, but hung in there and then started to play the conditions well.

“We’ve just got to keep going. The ladder is still settling, it takes a little while. There’s clearly a couple of standout teams up the front, but then there’s a big glut of teams there and we certainly want to be in the mix.

“We’ve put the work in and we’ll continue to have challenges, but I think we’re going to see more of that than not.”

The Dockers enjoyed a 64-36 advantage in inside-50 entries but the Sam Collins-led Suns backline repelled the attacking waves with the midfield of best-on-ground Touk Miller, Noah Anderson, Brandon Ellis and Matt Rowell then taking control.

Mabior Chol (pictured, four goals) and Levi Casboult (two) then capped off the good work from further afield as the Gold Coast had contributors across all lines.

“I think we’re trying to build a list and footy club that is even, so that if someone drops down a peg, someone else steps up,’’ Dew said.