Certainty for Suns
THE Gold Coast Suns have shrugged off a rejection from the Queensland government to return home to live under normal conditions as they chase a second straight win.
Gold Coast were scheduled to play in front of its home fans against Essendon on Sunday, but will face the Bombers in Geelong after being unable to get approval from the state government to live and play as normal after spending time in Victoria.
Suns coach Stuart Dew said the decision was made to remain in Melbourne in order to give certainty to the players and staff who are looking to back up last week’s win over Carlton by knocking off Essendon away from home.
“In the end it was just getting too late to give them certainty around what the conditions would look like,” Dew said.
THE Suns just couldn’t outrun Covid anymore.
Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew says the decision to remain in Melbourne to play Essendon in Geelong on Sunday was made to give players and staff certainty.
“In the end it was just getting too late to give them certainty around what the conditions would look like, both from a playing performance sense, but also from a human sense,” Dew said. “The overwhelming thing from the people down here, the players and staff, was around the certainty and knowing what they were in for.
“In the end that’s the decision that we’ve made. “Across the journey in the last 18 months with COVID I think a lot of teams have given up home games,” “We were lucky enough to play more than our fair share last year in Queensland. “We’ve actually been able to outrun lockdowns a little bit for the whole year ... obviously at this stage we’re in Melbourne so it would seem best to stay.”