WELL, AT LEAST ROUGHIE HAD A GOOD TIME ... SUNS SLUMP AGAIN
Hawks faithful treated to a farewell show that may play in September
SUNS coach Stuart Dew is confident this is as bad as it gets for a team he believes will improve in 2020.
It comes after Jarryd Roughead’s farewell game for Hawthorn potentially became a tour, courtesy of their 70point thumping of Gold Coast.
The Hawks faithful descended on Marvel Stadium yesterday to say goodbye to the club legend.
But a six-goal haul and the slim chance of finals could be the start of a lengthy send-off, after the 18.10 (118) to 7.6 (48) win lifted Hawthorn to ninth – one win behind the eighthplaced Western Bulldogs.
The dominant claret colour of Gold Coast’s strip proved fitting, with the players seemingly combining to roll out the red carpet for Roughead in front of 31,331 spectators.
It was the Suns’ 17th straight loss but Dew was upbeat despite the team being in the midst of the second biggest losing streak in the club’s history.
“Not being silly but we have had a fair few players who have had career-best years,” Dew said. “They may be secondyear players. So how much is their impact on the game? That may be minimal on the outside but we see the growth on the inside.
“Synergy is going to be a big thing and consistency of being able to pick our best 22.”
Roughead’s early direct opponent, Charlie Ballard, was just six years old when the Hawthorn icon made his debut and, just as in those early years spent watching him, he had a box seat to the show the fourtime premiership player helped put on.
The absence of Gold Coast defensive pillars Sam Collins and Rory Thompson has hindered the Suns’ ability to match up with opposition forwards and it was up to Ballard and 18-year-old Caleb Graham to try to stop the big men.
“A champion of the game has retired on his terms and unfortunately we were on the end of one of his performances. That is why he has done what he has done,” Dew said of Roughead.
“We had two first-year players and a second-year player on a legend of the game. When it’s coming down like that it’s always going to be a tough ask.”
Hawthorn kicked the first four goals of the game and led by 30 points at the first break and 50 by halftime.
A noticeable lift by Gold Coast reduced it to 49 in the third but it wasn’t to last as the Hawks regathered momentum in the final quarter.
Pearce Hanley (34 disposals), Jarrod Harbrow (32 disposals), Touk Miller (30 disposals), Brayden Fiorini (30 disposals) and David Swallow (26 disposals, 11 clearances) were among Gold Coast’s best.