{"id":719113,"date":"2026-06-06T14:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/719113\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T14:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:02:12","slug":"afl-news-2026-damien-hardwick-press-conference-video-after-gold-coast-suns-loss-to-brisbane-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/719113\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Damien Hardwick press conference video after Gold Coast Suns loss to Brisbane Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coach Damien Hardwick has slammed a \u201cmiddling\u201d Suns outfit after a poor performance from Gold Coast against a vulnerable Brisbane<\/a> on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

With several players out and in the midst of a mid-season form slump, there was no better time for the Suns to take on the Lions but were instead taught a lesson from the dual reigning premiers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEverything (let us down). We just looked off at the start,\u201d Hardwick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the first quarter we had some unpressured looks we just made fatal mistakes and they came back the other way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen quarters two, three and four we got belted around the contest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardwick demanded more from his side in the second half of the campaign if they want to be considered contenders and take a step forward from last year\u2019s semi-final appearance.<\/p>\n

Lions fly early behind Morris & Neale | 02:48<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is we\u2019re a middling side aren\u2019t we,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sort of are where we are. We\u2019re short of the contenders, we were last year, we\u2019re the same place this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to get to work and figure out how that looks and what we can do to close that gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re well short at the moment. All those sides that are at the top have beaten us by 30 plus points and haven\u2019t given us a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the same story again for the Suns as their star-studded midfield were outplayed in the contest, comprehensively losing the clearance battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to the group at the end we were really disappointed in that facet of the game,\u201d Hardwick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the clearances but it\u2019s also the general scrimmages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just beaten and outhunted and outworked around that space.<\/p>\n

Career-high 7 goals for Morris | 00:43<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve thought about some things we can do, I thought Leo Lombard went in there and really showed something.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day we\u2019ve got to sit there and put it on our guys and get the job done \u2013 next man in mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lions \u2013 led by Josh Dunkley \u2013 thwarted the dynamic duo of Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson with the pair combining for 15 first-half disposals.<\/p>\n

Rowell and Anderson found their way into the contest as the game went on but the damage was already done.<\/p>\n

Gold Coast now faces a daunting task travelling to Geelong next week with little time to turn around Saturday\u2019s poor outing in front of a sold out People First Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really flat. I am flat for our supporters, I\u2019m flat for our players, I\u2019m flat for our club,\u201d Hardwick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really set ourselves for the block of games and we\u2019ve got a kick in the backside.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m disappointed, I\u2019m angry, I\u2019m all of those things, it\u2019s harsh, it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll make sure we dust ourselves off and give ourselves a chance next week versus Geelong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 NCA NewsWire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coach Damien Hardwick has slammed a \u201cmiddling\u201d Suns outfit after a poor performance from Gold Coast against a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,651,3237,269049,348668,35347,348672,158047,13658,2485,9130,12098,25875,36862,12157,348670,348671,25844,677,701,348669,85,660],"class_list":["post-719113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-clearance-battle","tag-coach-damien-hardwick","tag-conference-video","tag-daunting-task-travelling","tag-dynamic-duo","tag-geelong","tag-gold-coast","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-josh-dunkley","tag-lachie-neale","tag-logan-morris","tag-matt-rowell","tag-mid-season-form-slump","tag-morris-ampamp-nealeafl","tag-noah-anderson","tag-oceania","tag-queensland","tag-semi-final-appearance","tag-sports","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719113","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=719113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}