{"id":102532,"date":"2025-08-28T17:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102532\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T17:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:11:07","slug":"it-breaks-the-ice-suns-afl-milestone-finally-drags-gold-coast-out-of-sporting-graveyard-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102532\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It breaks the ice\u2019: Suns AFL milestone finally drags Gold Coast out of sporting graveyard | AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twelve hours after the Gold Coast Suns<\/a> secured their first AFL finals berth, an unusual sight played out on the grounds at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School, just down the M1 from People First Stadium.<\/p>\n

The student-footballers in a programme that has produced more than 20 men\u2019s and women\u2019s AFL<\/a> draftees were preparing for their club grand finals this weekend, and the coming climax to the Queensland schools competition.<\/p>\n

But, given what had happened the previous night, there was something that took precedence. So one student began the physically-taxing \u201cbear walk\u201d, surrounded by the rest of the group \u2013 most members of the Suns academy \u2013 applauding the Bombers fan struggling on his hands and feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our boys had a bet with our coach,\u201d says Neil Mackay, the school\u2019s head of sport. \u201cHe backed Essendon, and the bet was if you lose, you\u2019ve got to do a hundred-metre bear walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The veteran teacher has spent 35 years at the school, which has produced the likes of Dayne Beams and Sam Gilbert, and more recently emerging Suns\u2019 stars Jed Walter and Will Graham. Like many on the Gold Coast, Mackay has witnessed more than his fair share of sporting misery. \u201cThe student was going for Essendon, so we made sure he paid up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, these are strange days in Australia\u2019s sixth-largest urban centre. After 326 AFL games and 15 years, the Suns are finally due to play their first final, against Fremantle next Saturday. \u201cSport\u2019s really strong on the Gold Coast, we just haven\u2019t quite got the success model right at that national level,\u201d Mackay says. \u201cIt breaks the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gold Coast United take on Newcastle at Skilled Park in 2010, when a then record low attendance of 2,091 spectators was recorded. Photograph: AAP<\/p>\n

At Gold Coast\u2019s very own Sporting Hall of Fame, there have been 49 athletes inducted since the first \u2013 motorcyclist Mick Doohan, in 1999. Eight are swimmers, six are surfers and three are triathletes. There is not one AFL player.<\/p>\n

The absence is no surprise, given the difficulties the urban corridor known more for surfing and schoolies has had within Australia\u2019s elite professional competitions. Before the Suns, the Brisbane Bears briefly played games at Carrara for six years before they moved to the Gabba, but in that time never made finals.<\/p>\n

In basketball, the NBL\u2019s Gold Coast Cougars became the Rollers after two seasons in the 1990s, and were extinct after another five. A decade later, the Blaze flamed out after five of their own. The A-League\u2019s Gold Coast United lasted just three, ending in another Clive Palmer bin fire.<\/p>\n

In rugby league, the struggles of the Titans \u2013 likely wooden spooners in 2025 \u2013 are hard to ignore, even if the club were brief top four contenders 15 years ago and have been one of the NRLW\u2019s better performers in recent years. Before that, few forget the tragicomedy of the Chargers in the 1990s, and before them the Seagulls featuring a fading Wally Lewis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember seeing The King\u2019s long wheelbase maroon Mercedes Benz \u2013 Wally Lewis\u2019s car \u2013 parked in the carpark as you walked in to watch the games,\u201d says the chair of the Hall of Fame and junior state cricketer Jeff Pfaff. \u201cHis number plate was QLD-06 or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gold Coast resident of 53 years agrees it has been \u201ctough\u201d for the region\u2019s professional teams, but argues his hometown is the \u201ccentre of the universe\u201d in some sports, such as surfing, surf lifesaving and swimming. One-off events have also been a success, Pfaff argues, citing the popular Gold Coast marathon which attracted more than 50,000 to the region this year. The region also hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2018, and eight local venues will be used in the 2032 Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Titans NRLW team has been relatively successful. Photograph: Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure it\u2019s a graveyard, but they\u2019ve had some things that haven\u2019t worked as well as they would like in the past. But I think with the right product and always the right outcomes and stuff like that, the Coast will get behind it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Working with the region\u2019s next generation every day, Mackay believes that now the fundamentals are in place for Gold Coast to make its sporting mark. \u201cIt\u2019s hard at that level, and we just haven\u2019t quite got the recipe right, but now history is going to be a bit more on our side,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ve now got the population base to get the crowds and get the financial aspect of those franchises right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendances at Suns matches have averaged close to 17,000 this season, and there was another strong crowd on Wednesday night to see the historic thumping of the Bombers. Afterwards, Suns coach Damien Hardwick said he has noticed more fans get behind his team as a final became more likely, even if his players did get a bit \u201ctight\u201d in fumbling two opportunities to secure their place in the past two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are young and emerging if that makes sense, but we\u2019re also young and emerging as a footy club,\u201d he said. \u201cI noticed that, walking around Burleigh, all of a sudden there\u2019s a lot of Suns colours that are jumping up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mackay says it\u2019s significant the team has \u201ccreated history\u201d this week, but it\u2019s just one step along the path towards winning a flag, and other things might be slower to change. \u201cIt\u2019s 27C, blue sky up here today. You\u2019ve got the beach, or you can go to the footy,\u201d Mackay says. \u201cWell, you might find more now pick the footy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twelve hours after the Gold Coast Suns secured their first AFL finals berth, an unusual sight played out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-102532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}