Suns dream of a top four finish

Matt Rowell, Gold Coast Suns, in action against Carlton (Photo supplied)

The Gold Coast Suns’ dream of a top-four finish is well and truly alive with only three games left in the club’s regular season.

Barring a disaster, it seems the Suns are heading to the finals for the first time, after years of disappointments. The Suns joined the AFL in 2011 but have never finished higher than 12^th in the national competition

The Gold Coast now sit in sixth spot on the ladder and has a game in hand over all the teams hoping to feature on Mike Brady’s “One day in September” .

The Suns play 8^th place GWS at home on Saturday afternoon and the club will be hoping Gold Coast residents attend in droves to cheer the team home.

The club’s final two games are against Port Adelaide, who are in 13th, Essendon who are in 15^th.

Three straight victories, to add to their season tally of 14 wins so far, would almost guarantee the club a top four position but it will most likely come down to percentages as to exactly where in the top 8 the Suns finish.

Last weekend the Suns dominated Carlton for most of the match before giving their fans a bit of scare in the final quarter before securing a 19-point win.

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick was reasonably happy with his team’s performance.

“Eighty per cent of our game was very good. There's always going to be 20 per cent in the game where things don't go your way, and Carlton capitalised big time in that," Hardwick said.

“It's a funny one because you always go to that 20 (per cent) if that makes sense, but 80 per cent of it we probably should have been further ahead and just couldn't quite get the scoreboard ticking along as well as we'd like.

"The pleasing thing for us is in the last 10 minutes we sort of got our game back on track.

“It's not to say there weren't some uncomfortable moments in the coaches' box and on the ground, but it's good for the guys to understand and feel that, but more importantly how we respond from that.”

Midfielder Matt Rowell was the stand-out performer on the day, racking up 30 disposals and 10 clearances. Forward Ben King also delivered up front, kicking six goals.