SUNS START THE PURGE

THE Gold Coast Suns have begun turning over their list by offloading five players.

The Suns have shed 170 games of AFL experience by delisting senior players Jarrad Grant (95 games), Mitch Hallahan (26) and rookies Keegan Brooksby (14), Ryan Davis (35) and Cameron Loersch (0).

“On behalf of everyone involved with the Gold Coast Suns, we want to commend the players for the contributions they have made to the club,” Suns football manager Marcus Ashcroft said.

“We wish them every success and all the very best for the future.”

Three of the players delisted were given second chances by the Suns in recent seasons with Grant (Western Bulldogs), Hallahan (Hawthorn) and Davis (West Coast) all briefly reviving their careers in Queensland.

The Suns will have more list lodgements in the next two months and the futures of offcontracted players Brandon Matera, Trent McKenzie, Michael Rischitelli, Matt Shaw and Jesse Lonergan are still uncertain, though most will have value at the trade table.

On the coaching front, Gold Coast’s assistants could find out as early as today if they are following Rodney Eade out of the door at the Suns.

D-Day looms for the coaches who have been called in to meet Suns chief executive Mark Evans individually today as the club edges closer to finalising its review of the football department.

Evans is expected to detail the position of each coach but may provide a final update to them when he delivers his full findings of the review to the board later this month.

The Suns may also choose to wait until they appoint a new head coach before making a decision in order to give Eade’s successor the chance to choose who he wants to keep, if any.

Suns assistants Dean Solomon, Matthew Primus, Ashley Prescott, Andy Lovell, Melbourne-based Brett Munro, Matthew Lappin, Aaron Rogers and NEAFL coach Stephen Daniel are all off contract at the end of the season.

Development coach Nick Malceski is contracted until the end of next season.

Some of the Suns assistants have been sounded out for coaching positions with Victorian Football League clubs.

The Suns AFL team’s season is over but the club’s female talent is still finding success.

The Gold Coast club, which is waiting to hear if it has secured an AFLW licence, has had three of its academy players named in the under-18 AllAustralian team.

Kalinda Howart, 18, Arianna Clarke, 18, and Lauren Bella, 17, earnt selection in the team on the back of impressive performances at the national under-18 championships for Queensland.