What’s Happening on the Glitter Strip? The SUNS and the Gold Coast Sporting Puzzle.

 

For more than two decades I have watched the story of the AFL’s expansion clubs unfold from a unique vantage point not as an outsider but as someone privileged to help shape it. During my 21-year career in Australian football in Queensland and NSW I witnessed firsthand the opportunities and challenges of growing the game beyond its traditional heartland.

 

As a member of the GC17 Bid Committee, I played a small part in securing the AFL’s 17th licence for the Gold Coast while later contributing to the formative years of the GWS Giants as they established their foundations in western Sydney. Having also called the Gold Coast home I have developed a deep appreciation of the region’s unique culture, lifestyle and sporting landscape.

 

My passion for the expansion clubs has never been driven simply by wins and losses but by a genuine belief in the importance of taking Australian football into new markets and building clubs that can thrive for generations. It is through this lens as a sports administrator, a Gold Coast resident and an advocate for the AFL’s national vision that I reflect on the current challenges confronting the Gold Coast SUNS.

 

The Gold Coast has long been regarded as one of Australia’s great sporting paradoxes. It is one of the country’s fastest growing regions, boasts an affluent population approaching one million people, enjoys year-round sunshine and world-class facilities, and yet remains one of the most difficult environments in Australia to build and sustain a successful national sporting team.

 

The current plight of the Gold Coast SUNS once again raises the question that has been asked for more than three decades. Unlike Melbourne, Adelaide or even Newcastle, the Gold Coast has never developed around a single identifiable community. Rather it is a collection of villages stretching almost 70 kilometres from Coolangatta through Burleigh, Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Southport, Helensvale and Coomera.

 

Each has its own identity. Many residents work in Brisbane. Many commute. Many are retirees. Many are transient. Many own holiday apartments. The Gold Coast is Australia’s playground. It is where people go to relax rather than where they traditionally gather around one football club. The culture is built around surf clubs, beaches, tourism, hospitality and entertainment. It lacks the generational tribalism that defines AFL in Victoria or South Australia.

 

People don’t inherit the Gold Coast SUNS in the way Victorian families inherit Richmond, Collingwood or Geelong. The club remains relatively young in a region that itself is still searching for a unified sporting identity.

 

The SUNS are hardly the first organisation to discover just how difficult elite sport can be on the Glitter Strip. Over the past forty years numerous national teams have battled similar problems. They include the Gold Coast Chargers (NRL), the Gold Coast Giants (NBL), the Gold Coast Rollers (NBL), the Gold Coast Blaze (NBL), the Gold Coast Titans (NRL), Gold Coast United (A-League), Gold Coast Seagulls (NSWRL), Gold Coast Cougars, Gold Coast Dolphins and the Gold Coast Stingrays

 

Most arrived with optimism. Most promised sustained success. Most ultimately struggled financially, competitively or administratively. Some disappeared altogether. The common denominator has rarely been facilities. It has been maintaining long-term community attachment.

 

Every football club speaks about professionalism. The Gold Coast asks players to maintain elite discipline while living in one of the world’s great holiday destinations. The beach. Nightlife. Restaurants. The surf culture. Tourism. Warm weather twelve months of the year.

 

Those attractions are wonderful for quality of life. Life’s temptations are magnified on the Gold Coast. Whether they are ideal for building ruthless high-performance habits over ten months of an AFL season is another question entirely. The Gold Coast offers distractions that simply don’t exist in Adelaide, Geelong or even suburban Melbourne. It requires extraordinary self-discipline.

 

Many young footballers arrive from Victoria having suddenly traded cold winters for beaches and freedom. Not every player thrives. Perhaps the greatest challenge for the SUNS is something no football department can completely control. Victoria. The AFL remains unmistakably Melbourne-centric.

 

Large crowds. Prime-time television. Historic clubs. Media attention. Traditional rivalries. Family support. For Victorian players home constantly beckons. The list of talented footballers who have eventually headed south remains extensive. Every contract negotiation is conducted against that backdrop. Retention therefore becomes almost as important as recruitment. The Gold Coast often develops elite talent only to spend enormous resources convincing those same players not to leave. That cycle can become exhausting for clubs.

 

When the SUNS appointed Damien Hardwick it appeared the final piece had fallen into place. Three premierships. Elite standards. Strong leadership. A coach capable of changing culture. The expectation was that Hardwick would transform Gold Coast into a genuine premiership contender. Instead questions continue to grow.

 

After the breakthrough finals victory in Perth during 2025, many believed the club had finally turned the corner. Twelve months later that optimism has evaporated. Rather than building on momentum, the SUNS have drifted backwards. With only a handful of rounds remaining they find themselves battling merely to remain relevant in the final’s or wildcard conversation.

 

Something clearly hasn’t connected.

 

Every successful club needs certainty around its marquee players. Instead the SUNS again find themselves confronting speculation. Ben King’s future dominates discussion. Whether justified or not, persistent media speculation inevitably affects a football club. Supporters wonder. Teammates notice. Administrators spend valuable energy managing narratives rather than football.

 

Even if King ultimately remains the uncertainty reinforces the broader perception that Gold Coast stars are always one contract away from leaving. Much of Gold Coast’s rise was built around an emerging midfield that appeared capable of competing with anyone.

 

Matt Rowell was becoming one of the AFL’s premier contested players.  He is a Brownlow Medalist. Noah Anderson looked destined to become one of the competition’s elite captains. Touk Miller embodied relentless competitiveness. The midfield was expected to become the club’s greatest strength. It has stagnated. The explosive contested brand that once overwhelmed opponents has become inconsistent. Whether through form, confidence, tactical issues or structural imbalance, the engine room has failed to dominate often enough.

 

The acquisition of Christian Petracca was viewed as a genuine statement of intent. Few players possess his combination of power, leadership and finals experience. Yet integrating star players is rarely straightforward. Elite football isn’t simply about accumulating talent. It requires clarity of role, chemistry and shared identity.

 

When performances fail to match expectations external scrutiny inevitably follows. The recruitment of Jamarra Ugle-Hagan carried enormous upside. His talent has never been questioned. Consistency and discipline has. So far the anticipated impact has not materialised. Whether through fitness, confidence, role definition or continuity, Gold Coast has yet to unlock the player many believed could become one of the AFL’s dominant key forwards.

 

Jarrod Witts has long represented stability. An experienced captain. A dependable ruckman. A respected club figure. When experienced leaders appear out of favour questions naturally arise. Is it selection? Game style? The new ruck rule?  Succession planning? Internal messaging? Without being inside the football department definitive answers are impossible. What is clear is that experienced leaders generally help stabilise uncertain environments.

 

Successful AFL clubs present one united vision. From the Board to the Chief Executive to the Football Manager the Coach, the List Manager, the Recruiting Manager and the High-Performance team. Everyone rowing in the same direction.

 

From the outside Gold Coast currently appears less certain. That doesn’t necessarily mean dysfunction exists. But perceptions matter. When results decline supporters inevitably question governance. Is everyone aligned around the same strategy? The recent coach comments followed by Chairmans Bob East retort raises questions on that front.

 

So who exactly are the Gold Coast SUNS? What do they represent? Who belongs to them? Unlike clubs whose identities were forged over 100 years Gold Coast continues building emotional connection generation by generation. That takes time. The children who first watched Gary Ablett wearing red and yellow are only now becoming adults. Success on the field accelerates that process. Failure delays it.

 

Ironically, the Brisbane Olympic Games may provide the Gold Coast with its greatest sporting opportunity. The city will become one of Australia’s premier high-performance hubs. Investment in facilities, transport and sport participation will increase. Population growth will continue. If the SUNS can establish themselves as a consistent finals club during this period they may finally embed themselves within the region’s sporting fabric.

 

The Gold Coast SUNS’ current struggles cannot be explained by one poor season, one coach or one player. They are part of a much broader challenge that has confronted elite sport on the Gold Coast for decades. Geography, lifestyle, population mobility, player retention and community identity all shape an environment unlike any other in Australian sport.

 

That does not mean success is impossible. The club’s finals victory over Fremantle in Perth in the 2025 finals demonstrated what the list is capable of when talent, belief and execution align. But sustaining that success requires more than assembling gifted players. It demands a clearly aligned board and football department a stable and distinctive club identity, relentless high-performance standards, and the ability to convince elite footballers that the Gold Coast is not merely a beautiful place to live, but the best place to build a premiership career.

Until those elements consistently come together the SUNS may continue to reflect the city they represent dazzling in potential, captivating in moments, but still searching for the enduring identity that transforms flashes of brilliance into sustained excellence.

 

 

Read more from Richard Griffiths HERE

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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