Round 9 – Gold Coast Suns v St Kilda: Suns shine in the heat

 

Round 9
Gold Coast Suns v St Kilda,
TIO Stadium Darwin
9 May 2026, 7.10pm

 

Pregame thoughts

 

Well one thing’s for sure, Darwin’s weather will be quite the opposite to Ballarat at the minute. After what’s been a spectacular autumn, Ballarat’s notorious chill has the velocity and penetration of a Nicky Winmar 40m ‘sizzler’ to Plugger on a lead.

 

The Suns have won their last eight games in Darwin and with only one change this week, have made TIO a fortress in recent years.

 

In comes second gamer Ben Jepson for Sam Clohesy who is suspended. The Saints also with the one change with running machine Darcy Wilson replacing the ‘Teen Wolf’ Dan Butler.

 

The Suns are still up and down this year with one good win under their belt against an uncharacteristic clumsy Geelong at People first Stadium in round one. Other than that they have had wins against WCE, Richmond, Essendon and GWS. Not the results that convey a lot of confidence in their fans. They are yet to prove whether they are finals-worthy but no doubt they would like their chances against the Saints.

 

The Saints are in a similar boat despite a big win against The Blues last week. It’s important to put the win in perspective regardless of some promising signs, as Carlton this year are under the belief that a game of AFL goes for sixty minutes.

 

Having said that, Carlton played a meritorious sixty minutes to almost knock over the reigning premier at the Gabba last night. Blues fans left scratching their heads as to where that effort has been all year.

 

A pleasant upset is on the cards tonight. Saints by 17 points.

 

 

1^st Qtr

 

Late change- NAS out, Byrnes in, goddam it! Looks like a nice night in Darwin. Mind you we cant feel the humidity from a Ballarat loungeroom. Premature fatigue plays a massive role in these games. Hope the boys are ready. Go Saints.

 

If you saw your horse sweating up in the mounting yard like the STK boys right now, you’d tear up your ticket.

 

King dribbles one through after some good crumbing from Miller. Too many missed tackles by STK. Rebound from Suns and Jamara takes a mark 20 out and misses. Better transition from STK but O’Connell misses everything. Good intercept in D50 from Wood. Slow and conservative by the Saints but no damage done. STK entries inefficient so Hall kicks a long bomb from 65 and goals. Good play Wilson, McCrae and Marshall. Hill busy and kicks long to Owens 10 out and goals. Saints on top. Great tackle Wilson and get 50 for his trouble. Goal. Suns not switched on yet. Good centre clearance Garcia and Henry marks 30 out. Goal. Another centre clearance and Marshall marks uncontested 30 out and misses. Brilliant linking from defence in numbers from STK and Wilson kicks a great team goal. At the break STK by 25 points.

 

Saints pressure clearly troubling the Suns who look flat. Saints are outnumbering the Suns around the contest and much more aggressive. It’s 28 degrees and 70% humidity so you’re better off controlling the footy as opposed to chasing backsides in these conditions if you want to go the distance. Lots of energy at the huddle from Lyon and the coaches. Lyon carrying on like Elvis in Vegas. Good to see. Hope he’s not on the same pills.

 

 

2^nd Qtr

 

Silvagni continuing his good form. Stocker tagging Petracca gives away a soft free, a shocker in fact and he goals. Suns pressure lifting. Suns go coast to coast thanks to Rioli doing a NAS and Weller marks and goals. Noble kicks another from a scramble and more bad news as Wilkie and Wood go off injured. Rioli needs attention quickly. Graham tackles Sinclair and rewarded to kick the Suns 4^th in a row and hit the front. Brilliant play from Henry ends up with Phillipou who misses. TDK takes a good contested mark 35 out and misses. Noble racking them up. Rioli, who is treating the conditions with contempt, kicks one from 50. Superb play from Carroll ends up with TDK who gives to Henry who misses.

 

Another soft free to the Suns to Davies who threads one from a sharp angle. Six straight. Another soft one 10 out to Jamara who hits the post. At the break Suns by 10 points.

 

No doubt The Suns got a kick up the backside and the 2^nd qtr was effectively a reversal of the first. The Suns pressure went through the roof and the Saints wasted opportunities. STK dominating centre clearances but the ball is rebounding out of the forward line too easily thanks to Noble, Newland and Rioli who need urgent attention. A couple of very dodgy decisions in front of the Suns goal didn’t help. Players starting to double over so it now becomes a war of attrition. 

 

 

3^rd Qtr

 

Free to Owens at HF who kicks perfectly to Sharman 30 out who just misses. Brilliant defence from Silvagni saves a certain goal. More STK I50 entries for no outcome. More entries, more frustration. Somehow a Mung from Henry finds Wilson 30 out and misses. A similar Mung from Humphrey finds King who doesn’t make a mistake. Centre clearance from Garcia, clever hands from Marshall and Wilson goals. King quick reaction too good for Howard and goals. Oh to have his brother back. At the break Suns by 14 points.

 

Saints dominated possession that qtr but couldn’t capitalise. In fact STK have virtually  doubled the Suns in clearances, centre clearances and stoppage clearances. Owens and Sharman have struggled but the entries haven’t been that great either. Needless to say there is a King missing tonight to draw attention for the midfielders. Losing Wilkie has hurt big time and Collins has been steadfast for the Suns in defence.

 

 

4^th Qtr

Good movement from defence from Sinclair, Carroll, Garcia and Flanders gets to Wilson 40 out who goals. Couple of fumbles in defence and Lombard kicks a goal.  Turnover midfield and Miller kicks a goal. Suns by 22. More good linking from the STK small brigade and finally Sinclair kicks a beauty from 50. Suns by 15. Sharman misses a sitter but the STK pressure is up with 8 mins to go. Great kick from Anderson finds Humphrey in the pocket. Goal and it’s the Suns by 21. Players fading and King marks 50 out and kicks a ripper. Suns 29 up. Siren.

 

Nine on the trot up there for The Suns. I thought the Saints tried hard especially Hill, Flanders, Windhager, Silvagni, Wilson and Sinclair but the connection between midfield and forwards was poor given the dominance at the source. Not having NAS and Wilkie our two best made a big difference. 

 

Malarkey Votes

 

3.  John Noble
2.  Bohdi Newland
1.  Sam Flanders

 

GOLD COAST        1.1    7.4    9.6    13.11 (89)
ST KILDA    5.2    5.6    6.10    8.12 (60)

 

GOALS
Gold Coast: King 4, Weller, Petracca, Rioli, Noble, Miller, Lombard, Humphrey, Graham, Davies
St Kilda: Wilson 4, Sinclair, Owens, Henry, Hall

 

BEST
Gold Coast: Anderson, Rioli, B.Uwland, Humphrey, Noble, Miller
St Kilda: Wilson, Hill, Garcia, Hall, Flanders, Sinclair

 

INJURIES
Gold Coast: Read (knee)
St Kilda: Wilkie (back)

 

LATE CHANGES
Gold Coast: Nil
St Kilda: Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (managed) replaced by Ryan Byrnes

 

Crowd: 10,672 at TIO Stadium

 

To read all Round 9 match reports click HERE

 

Read more from Ian Wilson HERE

 

 

 

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