Sam’s Day will come: Malceski
SUNS NEAFL coach Nick Malceski has called on Sam Day to forego selfless footy in favour of breaking games open and being the dominant forward they need.
Day has produced one of the most intriguing subplots to Gold Coast’s year, kicking eight goals in four games for the reserves while being unable to break into the AFL team where the key forwards have so far had minimal impact.
Mature age recruits Chris Burgess and Josh Corbett have both been used while Peter Wright has also been below his best.
Malceski said clunking marks and kicking even more goals needed to be Day’s priority.
“He has been playing some good footy,” Malceski said ahead of the club’s Round 5 NEAFL game against the NT Thunder in Darwin today.
“We just want him to be a bit more consistent throughout the game as well and break open a game.
“He did really well in Round 1 against Canberra and hasn’t had the best service coming in to him.
“He has been making contests well but we would love him to stick his marks and really lead the team because he is an experienced player.
“We want him to stand up when things aren’t going well. He has at times but we just want it to be a bit more consistent at it.
“He is definitely pushing himself up there for selection so hopefully he has another good game this week and puts some more pressure on the big boys up top in the AFL.”
Gold Coast will welcome the return of forward Sean Lemmens who has been sidelined since the start of March with an ankle injury. “He won’t play a full game and will be on managed time but we are looking forward to having Sean back,” Malceski said.
The Suns are winless from the opening four rounds.