Gold Coast Suns

The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League. The club is based on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Founded in 2009, the club has been playing in the AFL since the 2011 season. It plays home matches at Carrara Stadium and has its training and administrative facilities located at the adjacent Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre. The club is one of two AFL clubs based in Queensland, the other being its main rival, the Brisbane Lions, which it competes against in the QClash.
In addition to the men's team, the Suns field other teams, including an AFL Women's side, a reserves side in the Victorian Football League, and a Gold Coast Suns Academy side consisting of the club's best junior development signings. It also competes in Division 2 of the men's, women's underage championships, and the Talent League.

History

Foundation

The first application for a licence by a Gold Coast team to enter the AFL was made in 1996 by the wealthy and popular Gold Coast-based Southport Sharks ; with an excess of 20,000 members, the on-field QAFL powerhouse made a formal bid to the AFL. However, the AFL declined the licence in favour of admitting the Port Adelaide Football Club. There was strong opposition from the majority of the QAFL clubs and supporters, and the AFL felt that the popular Sharks brand, and its reliance on gaming and hospitality revenue, could divide rather than unite the Gold Coast community. In 2006, the AFL attempted to negotiate a merger between the Sharks and a Melbourne-based club. The AFL made the Gold Coast a primary target for a proposed relocation of the North Melbourne Football Club which had sold some of its home games there. The league pushed for a merger with the Sharks offering significant financial incentives, however North Melbourne blocked the move and the AFL decided that a new licence would be the best avenue for moving forward. On 24 December 2007, the AFL obtained Australian Securities and Investments Commission registration for the name "Gold Coast Football Club Ltd". In March 2008 the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club presidents to establish sides on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney. Shortly thereafter the AFL invited the Sharks to become part of a consortium, and the club made a $150,000 donation and sought to meet the strict criteria set down for inclusion by the AFL. As part of the winning bid, the Sharks contributed $10 million in corporate sponsorship. However the AFL officially ruled out use of the Sharks nickname for the new club, despite them being the highest polling choices of AFL supporters. The club's identity was put to a public nomination and voting process with the Marlins and Stingrays being the most popular of the available options among community stakeholders. In response to the poll, however the AFL announced that it would not adopt any of the community suggested names and the team would initially remain unnamed and that the nickname would evolve. However it was later leaked that the AFL's marketing department had already chosen the Suns brand independent of the community consultation.
The new club was formally granted the licence to compete in the AFL on 31 March 2009.
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou announced the club could debut in the Queensland State League in 2009 as it recruited players and prepared for its debut season in the AFL, which the league scheduled for 2011. Marquee AFL players such as Nick Riewoldt, Lance Franklin, Nic Naitanui and Kurt Tippett were speculated as potential signings for Gold Coast, though all four men ended up re-signing with their existing clubs. In June 2008 it was announced that the new team would play in the TAC Cup in 2009 and the Victorian Football League in 2010 ahead of its entry into the AFL in 2011. Later that year the board of business-people who had been appointed to set up the club, and were known as the GC17 bid, appointed WAFL coach and former player Guy McKenna as senior coach. Essendon administrator Travis Auld was selected as head of the GC17 board, and would go on to lead the club in an off-field capacity for several years.
The AFL were able to successfully negotiate with the Queensland Government to redevelop Carrara Stadium as the club's new home ground. The announcement of the redevelopment, of which a small portion was funded by the AFL, was made in May 2009. On 22 July 2010 club administrators announced that the club would be known as the Gold Coast Suns, and adopt the colours red, gold and blue.

2009: TAC Cup

The club's newly assembled junior squad competed in the 2009 TAC Cup under 18 competition and won most of their games, eventually finishing in 5th place. They defeated the Northern Knights in the elimination final but then lost their semi final to the Geelong Falcons.

2010: VFL

In November 2009 the team signed twelve 17-year-olds around the country to compete in the Victorian Football League year through the under age access rules. These players included Luke Russell, Maverick Weller, Taylor Hine, Josh Toy, Matt Shaw, Piers Flanagan, Hayden Jolly, Alex Keath, Jack Hutchins, Tom Nicholls, Brandon Matera, Trent McKenzie.
The Gold Coast was also given permission to play David Swallow in 2010, despite not being the correct age. The deal that was struck with the AFL stated that Swallow would still need to go through the 2010 AFL draft to officially join the team, while the other under age recruits contracts would run through 2011.
These are the results and fixture for the 2010 season, in which the club competed in the Victorian Football League.
Inaugural VFL team

Gold Coast Season 2010

Source:

2011: AFL debut

Concessions on entry into the AFL

Year	Draft picks	Senior list size	Salary cap allowance	Zone access	Notes
2009	-	-	-	20 QLD	The club was granted access to twenty 17-year-old Queensland players who were eligible for the 2009 AFL draft. The team competed in the under 18 TAC Cup competition in 2009.
2010	-	-	-	5 QLD 2 NT	The club was allowed to sign up to twelve 17-year-olds born between 1 January and 30 April 1992. The club also received the first 5 picks in the rookie draft. The team competed in the Victorian Football League competition in 2010.
2011	1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 26, 43	48	$1,000,000 extra	5 QLD	At the conclusion of the 2010 season the club was able to sign up to 16 current AFL players who were uncontracted for the 2011 season. The club was also allowed to sign up to 10 players who had previously elected for the national draft and weren't selected.
2012	AFL standard	46	$800,000 extra	5 QLD	-
2013	AFL standard	42	$600,000 extra	AFL standard	-
2014	AFL standard	40	$400,000 extra	AFL standard	-
2015	AFL standard	AFL standard	AFL standard	AFL standard	All concessions removed and the club operates like every other team in the AFL.

Players acquired through concessions

Concession	Players acquired
QLD zone access	Joseph Daye, Charlie Dixon, Jesse Haberfield, Tom Hickey, Rex Liddy, Marc Lock, Lewis Moss, Zac Smith, Jack Stanlake, Jack Stanley, Rory Thompson, Joel Wilkinson.
NT zone access	Steven May, Liam Patrick.
2009 rookie selections	Daniel Harris, Michael Coad, Sam Iles, Roland Ah Chee, Danny Stanley.
2009 underage selections	Piers Flanagan, Taylor Hine, Jack Hutchins, Hayden Jolly, Brandon Matera, Trent McKenzie, Tom Nicholls, Luke Russell, Matt Shaw, Josh Toy, Maverick Weller.
2010 off-contract signings	Gary Ablett Jr, Nathan Bock, Jared Brennan, Campbell Brown, Josh Fraser, Jarrod Harbrow, Nathan Krakouer, Michael Rischitelli.
2010 draft selections	David Swallow, Harley Bennell, Sam Day, Josh Caddy, Dion Prestia, Daniel Gorringe, Tom Lynch, Seb Tape.

'''Initial 2011 playing squad recruitment'''

Inaugural AFL team

2011–2014: McKenna era

would continue to coach the team throughout the 2011 season and beyond, after successfully guiding the club through its journey in the TAC Cup and VFL in 2009 and 2010. The Suns would play their first four "home" games of the 2011 AFL season at the Gabba in Brisbane, while their home stadium underwent final redevelopment works.
File:Michael Rischitelli 2019.5.jpg|thumb|Michael Rischitelli was instrumental in the club's first winning game with 31 disposals and 2 goals against at AAMI Stadium in Round 5 of the 2011 season.
Gold Coast had a bye in Round 1, and played its first AFL game debuted in Round 2 on 2 April 2011 against Carlton at the Gabba in front of a crowd of 27,914. The first five goals were scored by Carlton, before Charlie Dixon scored the first-ever goal for the Gold Coast Suns. Carlton went on to win by 119 points. Gold Coast won its first game in Round 5 on 23 April 2011, defeating Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. Gold Coast trailed by 40 points late in the third quarter, before coming back to win by three points, after Port Adelaide's Justin Westhoff missed a set shot after the siren. Michael Rischitelli was the best on ground. Gold Coast won two more matches for the season, winning the inaugural QClash against in Round 7 by eight points, and defeating by 15 points in Round 17 in the first AFL match ever played at Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns. However, the Suns also suffered several more very heavy defeats during the year, including a 139-point loss to in Round 6 – in which Essendon scored a record 15.4 in the first quarter – and a 150-point loss against in Round 20. The Suns went on to win the wooden spoon.
Gold Coast endured a poor pre-season in 2012 which included a 13-point loss to fellow AFL newcomers. Their solitary win in that time was a narrow win over in the triangular round of the 2012 NAB Cup.
The home-and-away season did not begin well for the Suns either, losing their first fourteen matches in succession to be the only winless team after Round 15 of the 2012 AFL season. Among the losses included losses by more than ninety points to and , seven-point losses to and at home and a 27-point loss to the newest AFL franchise,. Their fourteen losses to start the season was the worst by any team since lost its first 17 matches of the 2001 season. Their horror start to the season ended in round 16 with a narrow 2-point win against Richmond. They had a lead of up to 36 points halfway through the second quarter, which then shrank to 24 points after 2 quick goals before half time from Richmond. Richmond then had a six to two goal quarter, snatching the lead back. The lead then went to 18 points Richmond's way before Gold Coast snatched it back to just 4. With 5 seconds left, a kick from the right forward pocket in Gold Coast's 50 was marked by Karmichael Hunt. After the siren sounded he kicked the goal to make Gold Coast 2-point winners.
The Suns then won two more matches for the season, a 30-point win against in Round 20 and a 12-point upset win over in Round 22, both at home. The team finished 17th at the end of the season, only above Greater Western Sydney on the AFL ladder. In November 2012 the club announced their "20-ONE-3" plan that targeted signing twenty thousand members and winning a premiership within three years - by the conclusion of the 2015 AFL season. The plan was criticised as being overly ambitious. By the end of the 20-ONE-3 period, the Suns had a highest membership of 13,643 and a highest ladder position of 12.
In the 2013 AFL season Gold Coast improved, highlighted by a victory over eventual finalist Collingwood. Their improvement on the past two seasons was so stark that they were considered possibilities of securing an unlikely finals berth. The Suns finished with 8 wins for the season and ended the season placed 14th on the ladder. Captain Gary Ablett won his second Brownlow Medal, the first such medalist to win the award at the club.
Despite losing veterans Jared Brennan and Campbell Brown ahead of the 2014 season, some experts predicted Gold Coast to "give the top 8 a nudge", though the general consensus was that the Suns would likely finish around 13th. Though beginning the season promisingly and entering Round 11 with a 7–2 record following impressive wins on the road against Melbourne, North Melbourne, and St Kilda, the Suns would stumble severely through the second half of the season. After captain Gary Ablett was injured in a win over Collingwood in round 16, the club went on to lose the next two matches, including one in the QClash against Brisbane. In round 19, the club recorded its inaugural win without their captain, defeating St Kilda. The club went on to lose the remaining matches of the season, finishing in 12th. Inaugural coach Guy McKenna was sacked at season's end, leaving the club after 88 games in charge and winning just over 25% of them.