1h agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 2:53amAFL Saturday ScoreboardJust nowSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:55amQT: Gold Coast 5.1 (31) leads Brisbane 2.3 (15)
Just nowSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:55amQT: Gold Coast 5.1 (31) leads Brisbane 2.3 (15)The siren sounds, and after a rough start, the Suns are in a bit of control at quarter time.
Brisbane struggled to get out of their half late in that term, and the Suns are dominating possession, with Brayden Fiorini, Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Alex Davies all getting a fair bit of the pill.
For a change, the Suns are actually taking their chances, and that 16-point lead could have been more.
You fully expect the Lions to hit back hard here, but this isn’t looking like an easy win for the premiers – and that’s an improvement from the Suns’ perspective.
3m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:52am
Ben King kicks another for the Suns
The Suns definitely have the momentum here, and they should have scored just now.
Matt Rowell had too many options and stuffed the kick.
But the Suns hit back a minute later, going long to the hotspot and Ben King was given a free for a hold.
He kicks the goal, and that’s five for the quarter for the Suns.
6m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:48am
Suns extend the lead through Jy Farrar
The Suns made five changes for today’s game – and two of them just combined to put the home side further in front!
Alex Davies has looked lively, producing passes and laying tackles. That time he forced a turnover and fed the ball out to Farrar, who snapped truly.
The Suns lead by 10 points deep in time on.
10m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:44am
Suns go back-to-back to hit the front
Well it’s hardly a shootout on the Gold Coast, but the Suns are right in this – which is a change from some of the more recent editions of this match.
The home side rushed the ball forward for a lovely snap from Connor Budarick.
And then they’ve repeated the dose a minute or so later, with Ben King getting the ball down to the crumbers and Nick Holman kicks it.
The Suns lead by five points!
14m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:41am
Lachie Neale extends Brisbane’s lead
It’s a bit more of a chess game than an arm wrestle right now, but no one has grabbed the momentum.
That’s a moment, though!
The Suns make a crucial error at the back, and the ball ends up with Lachie Neale who snaps a great goal.
The Lions extend the lead to 7, with seven minutes to go in the opening term.
19m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:36am
Poster for the Suns
Interesting times for Brisbane, with both Dayne Zorko and Lachie Neale on the bench right now.
The Suns are raising the pressure, and they force an out on the full in the right forward pocket.
Connor Budarick goes the snap around the corner, and it looks good but cannons into the post!
One-point game.
22m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:32am
Suns get a goal to Brayden Fiorini
There’s an odd atmosphere right now at Carrara – no big moments or roars.
The Suns have been up against it, but they are starting to come into it and win a few contests.
Now they need to get on the scoreboard. And they do!
Some decent forward pressure, and Brayden Fiorini snaps a beauty from the left forward pocket.
Suns on the board, Lions lead by two.
26m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:28am
A miss to Charlie Cameron
Gold Coast have to hang on here, the Lions are in fearsome form right now. They go down the right, and go long to the pocket, it falls to Charlie Cameron and he runs around steps inside and … misses!
That’s a bad one. Another point.
28m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:26am
Lions get the opening goal
The Lions have had the better of the opening exchanges, and they are dominating inside 50s.
This time they make it count, with a mark to Callum Ah Chee and a straight set shot getting the job done.
Brisbane takes an early seven-point lead. Over to you, Suns.
30m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:24am
Lions putting the pressure on
Andrew what were matchups at the opening stoppage did it seem like the lions are going after Anderson and Rowell
– Bailey
Bailey,
I didn’t see who was on Noah Anderson but Josh Dunkley has gone to Matt Rowell as expected.
33m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:22am
Early miss for Brisbane’s Logan Morris
The Lions have had a quick start, going forward and hitting up Logan Morris on the edge of 50.
He goes for the straight shot, but it slews off to the right and through for a point. Is that nerves, or the rain?
34m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:21amWe are underway in the Q Clash
It’s crunch time for Suns coach Damien Hardwick and his team in the Q-Clash (Getty Images)
It’s deep breath time!
This could well be the most consequential Q Clash in history – a win today would make the Suns the hot favourites to make their first finals series.
But the Lions have had the wood over their SE QLD rivals and they’ll want nothing more than to keep that run going.
It’s raining at Carrara, which could make a difference here.
Who can impose their game on their rivals? Stick around to find out.
36m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:18am
Last six results between Gold Coast and BrisbaneRd 9, 2025: Brisbane by 17 (Gabba)Rd 21, 2024: Brisbane by 28 (Carrara)Rd 9, 2024: Brisbane by 34 (Gabba)Rd 20, 2023: Gold Coast by 41 (Carrara)Rd 10, 2023: Brisbane by 43 (Gabba)Rd 19, 2022: Brisbane by 17 (Gabba)
As you can see, the Lions have had the better of the Q-Clash recently, with five wins out of the last six encounters.
But for the Suns, it gets worse – a lot worse. The men from the Gold Coast have won just one of the last 13 matches, and in the history of the club they have beaten Brisbane just seven times out of 28.
No pressure at all, like, for the home side today. On the other hand, what a time this would be to start turning the ledger around.
41m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:13am
Lions keen to extend Q-Clash dominance
The Q-Clash has been Brisbane’s domain for most of the history of this matchup – they lead the head-to-head 21 to 7.
So they go in as favourites, but there is pressure on the premiers as well. They have a tough run-in, and a loss today would likely see the Lions lose their top-two spot by the end of the round.
Can they shut down the Suns? We’ll find out soon.
44m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:10am
A Q-Clash grand final? We’d like to see that
Brisbane v Gold Coast is the only game that matters. Hopefully a dress rehearsal for the grand final.
– Glenn
Well, Glenn, if you’re right then we’re in for an almighty next couple of months of footy. That matchup would be very interesting!
46m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:09am
Can the Suns shine at Carrara?
This is a vital game for the Suns. The crush in the top eight means that no one can afford too many losses in the run-in.
It’s particularly acute for Gold Coast which has never made finals – the pressure to achieve it in season 15 is very high.
The Suns after today have Richmond, Carlton, GWS, Essendon and Port Adelaide. There are a few likely wins in there, but they will need to get to 15 wins to make sure of September – and the best way to achieve that is to start with a win today.
52m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 3:03am
‘It’s not Matt Rowell or bust’: Coach Hardwick says Suns have plans to deal with tag
Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has been speaking to Fox Footy before the game, and he’s admitted his side need a bit of work after last week’s shellacking from the Crows.
“We’ve got to get our clearance and contested ball play going,” Hardwick said.
“We brought in Alex Davies specifically for that, and Jy Farrar for different looks.”
The likely tag from Josh Dunkley on Matt Rowell didn’t phase the Suns mentor.
“We’ll always let them work through it, and then we have plans in place. That’s part of the reason we want to have Alex Davies in there,” Hardwick said.
“It’s not Matt Rowell or bust.”
The Suns were crushed by 61 points in Adelaide last week, and one of the big problems was conversion. The Gold Coast had six more inside 50s than the Crows, but kicked 10 less goals.
“Our ball use inside 50 was really really poor…we couldn’t hit the side of a barn last week,” Hardwick said.
Let’s hope for him and the Suns fans that they can improve that against the acid test of the defending premiers.
56m agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 2:59amWhat are the best interstate rivalry games of the AFL era?
To mark this weekend’s schedule, and Rivalry Saturday in particular, we’ve put together a list of the best rivalry games of the AFL era.
This takes in the Showdown, the Western Derby, the Q-Clash and the Sydney Derby.
This wholly subjective list will no doubt prompt some alternative views – why don’t you have a look at the seven matches and let us know in the comments which ones you give a tick, which ones you don’t and which ones you think have missed out.
1h agoSat 26 Jul 2025 at 2:53am
Teams are in for the Q-Clash
Normally, making big changes to a side ahead of an important game is not the ideal approach.
For the Suns, the combination of injuries and an absolute thumping by the Crows last week have forced coach Damien Hardwick’s hand.
The home side has made five changes to last week’s line-up, starting with Daniel Rioli, who has had surgery on a leg injury and Sam Clohesy who has an unspecified injury. Then there are Ben Jepson, veteran David Swallow and former number three pick Jed Walter, who have been omitted.
In come key defender Sam Collins, veteran Lachie Weller, plus Alex Davies, Jy Farrar and Nick Holman. The common denominator? All five have had plenty of Q-Clash experience.
The Lions make two changes. Kai Lohmann is out with a calf issue, while Bruce Reville has been omitted.
The key in is Zac Bailey, who is back from suspension. Also in is Irishman Conor McKenna.
The subs are Leo Lombard for Gold Coast and Sam Marshall for Brisbane.