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Gold Coast an international embarrassment

Caroline Wilson

The Gold Coast Suns' lack of preparation for their first and potentially last international game of football was first exposed unwittingly by a grumpy Rodney Eade but punctuated the club's disastrous trip to China, right up until the embarrassing final score.

Less than 48 hours before the game the club had no  coach's  box signage and asked Port Adelaide — unsuccessfully — if that club's design team could help them out. That the club fell so short commercially in a venture that could have grown its business has not been lost on anyone and remains the cause of great concern for the AFL.

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It seems inexplicable that the Suns had not adequately planned the trip last year in terms of players' flights the moment the historic fixture was settled. Clearly as a group the team was unprepared and in the context of the unpredictable 2017 season the decision to sell a home game for no significant reward and which resulted in such a devastating defeat could prove the difference between the final eight and also-rans.

When the Suns were launched, their brand was fresh and youthful and community-based. You could not say that about the Gold Coast right now and while the unfortunate Eade was admonished and back-tracked from his negativity, by the time he reached China the damage was done.

The AFL has claimed it was assured by the club it was on track for the game even though it failed to leverage the Shanghai trip to secure a major sponsor to replace Fiat and remains short in more than one key category. Still you have to wonder whether headquarters should have stepped in earlier if it is correct that by the time Mark Evans took over in late February too many logistical deadlines had passed.

Now Evans, who appears to have worked successfully to improve relations between the Suns and Port Adelaide, insists that Gold Coast wants to return to Shanghai in 2018. After all, the club is searching for home-game venues in the wake of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

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Still smarting over the jumper controversy (how many major decisions in the game's history have been thwarted or driven by the beloved club guernsey?), Port chairman David Koch reportedly until recently had no interest in doing business again with the Suns but has not ruled it out. Koch's view is that the Suns broke a gentlemen's agreement by insisting on wearing their home jumper but in that the Gold Coast stand appears sound in both a contractual and sporting sense.

Greater Western Sydney, searching for options due to Sydney's Easter Show, remains another bidder, led by that club's chairman Tony Shepherd and his considerable business clout, and it is Port's view that at least one Melbourne club – St Kilda – could partner it next season.

And as bad as it turned out for Gold Coast, the Shanghai venture was by equal measure and more a triumph for Port Adelaide not least because victory moved the club into the top four with a percentage exceeding 150, which could prove as valuable as a game come late August.

Under-resourced as he worked to launch the game and all of its surrounding challenges and infrastructure last year, the exercise tested club chief Keith Thomas along with the AFL but ended in success even if the game was a dud and the attendance appeared patchy.

Significantly, it created a new dynamic at Alberton with Thomas working overtime to embed the Shanghai initiative, which he has continued to insist will prove a game-changer for Port Adelaide.

Coach Ken Hinkley now reports directly not to Thomas but to football operations boss Chris Davies,  who has continued to emerge as a genuine force within the club. 

So Port Adelaide remain wedded to the Shanghai option and the ongoing business opportunities it insists will lift the club from commercial obscurity and benefit the entire competition. But Gold Coast faces an uphill battle to redeem itself. And the whole unfortunate exercise for the AFL's 17th club further stamped the view that if the Suns return to China next year it will be with a different coach at the helm.