Solomon safe but Ashcroft gone as Suns step up cleanout
DEAN Solomon will stay on at the Gold Coast Suns as a senior assistant coach but foundation football manager Marcus Ashcroft will not be there next year.
Western Bulldogs list manager Jason McCartney is a target for a senior football department position with the Suns.
The cleanout at the Gold Coast will be completed this week with out-of-contract assistant coach Ashley Prescott set to survive the football department review.
However, fellow coaches Matthew Primus and Matthew Lappin are unlikely to be offered new deals while the future of Andy Lovell is unclear.
Stephen Daniel has left to take up the senior coaching position at Southport.
Primus was new Suns coach Stuart Dew’s captain at Port Adelaide in their playing days but that link has not assured his tenure. He has been linked to North Melbourne.
Gold Coast were desperate to retain Solomon, who coached the side for three matches after Rodney Eade was sacked in August.
Although he expressed a desire to stay, he did not sign a new deal until he saw who was appointed to replace Eade. He is overseas on holiday but has been in contact with Dew and is happy to accept a new threeyear deal.
Gold Coast’s official position is that talks with Ashcroft, a Queensland great, are ongoing but insiders say an exit has already been negotiated.