It’s been a tough season to date for the Gold Coast Suns, who after 15 rounds, find themselves with just three wins to their name.

Sitting 16th on the ladder, Gold Coast is well and truly out of the finals race, but will likely use this period to give its younger prospects some much needed experience.

With youth comes a never-say-die attitude, with the Suns capable of causing a few upsets in the backend of the year.

Lynch-less

In a big blow to the Suns’ season, co-captain Tom Lynch has been ruled out for the remainder of the year after undergoing surgery to repair his injured PCL.

Not only has it lost its leader, but Gold Coast will also be without its leading goal-kicker, given Lynch averages two goals per game.

It means the Suns will need to find a different avenue to goal, which has proven difficult this year given their second leading scorer, Jack Martin, has just 13 goals to his name.

Last weekend’s clash with Collingwood was the side’s first outing without Lynch since his surgery, and it had just one multiple goal-scorer, Nick Holman with two, and scored a total of just 60 points.

Peter Wright, who has spent much of his time in the NEAFL this year, appears to be the likely replacement, with one of Jarrod Witts or Brayden Crossley alongside him when not competing in the ruck.

It’s always difficult when a side loses its number one forward, but when they are as important and dominant as Lynch is, it’s made much harder.

Ability to compete

Despite having just the three wins to their name, the Gold Coast Suns have remained competitive in matches for much of the year.

They’ve lost three games by less than ten points, including a two-point defeat at the hands of St Kilda and a five-point loss to cross-town rivals Brisbane.

Although it lost to Collingwood in Round 15 by 39 points, the Suns managed to stay with their opponents in the second-half, not allowing the Magpies to build on their 38-point half-time lead.

With young, talented players such as Touk Miller, Lachie Weller and Jack Martin leading the charge, there’s a strong willingness to compete in this side that doesn’t allow them to go down without a fight. 

Tackling pressure

In what may come as a surprise to some, Gold Coast ranks second amongst the competition in tackles per game.

It averages 71.3 per game, marginally behind Port Adelaide which sits in first with 72.5.

Leading the tackling charge for the Suns is first-year midfielder Holman, who has recorded 89 tackles from his 14 games this year, which ranks him eighth across the entire competition and puts him amongst the likes of Joel Selwood and Ben Jacobs.

With a team as fast-paced as the Suns, forcing turnovers is crucial in executing its gameplan and hurting teams in transition.