The Gold Coast Suns need to “milk” their Darwin advantage for all it’s worth, Fox Footy’s Nathan Buckley believes after the side recorded a fourth-straight win at TIO Stadium.
The Suns’ season was teetering at 4-6 before they headed up to the Northern Territory and beat the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide in back-to-back games.
Now sitting at 6-6 and only percentage out of the top eight, Buckley believes the Suns need to make the most of the dominance they have in Darwin moving forward.
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“The last four games in Darwin show that (the Suns’) game style lends itself to Darwin (conditions),” Buckley praised On the Couch.
“Speaking to some people at the Gold Coast today, it’s unlikely they’d look to move any more games away from the Gold Coast. The contract (with the NT government) is for one game a year – they’ve got that up to two the last couple of years.
“They’ll probably continue with that.
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“If they are smart, and they want to look for wins, I’d be looking for eight-point games – teams you think are going to be in the middle, competing for sixth, seventh or eighth spot on the ladder, and getting them up there and taking them to task with their game style in Darwin.
“They are the ones that would make the difference with making finals or not.
“They won’t want to give away (their home games) … but it’s a competitive advantage you’ve got to milk. You’ve got to try and find them when you can get them.”
Statistics show the Suns’ contested ball game is suited to the humid conditions in the north, as they sit ranked number one in the competition for kick to handball ratio and for percentage of possessions contested.
“That there lends itself to playing footy in Darwin – you shouldn’t be greatly surprised they are four from four (at TIO Stadium),” On the Couch host Garry Lyon said.
“Here’s this profile, this is the way we play, where should we play? Well up in Darwin in the heat and sweat and humidity!”
Jonathan Brown said having more games in the NT would further help the Gold Coast’s Academy reach, given they had access to their talent pathway.
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Journalist Jon Ralph spoke to Suns CEO Mark Evans about the possibility of the club sending more games to the NT.
“He said it’s going to be two games, the four-year deal has finished,” he said On the Couch.
“They want to play nine games on the Gold Coast.”
But Ralph came up with his own solution to getting an extra game in Darwin for the Gold Coast.
“My thought is you get three games from the Northern Territory, call it $800,000 a year,” he said.
“You use $800,000 to get a Victorian club to play that ninth game on the Gold Coast – maybe call it a million bucks for them. Pay a million bucks for a win given how well they play up at the NT.”
The Suns now enjoy a week off at home for the bye before taking on Carlton at the MCG in Round 14.