Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew has confirmed his playing group would have no issue returning to Darwin in the coming seasons after a successful two week swing in the Northern Territory.
After getting the better of the Western Bulldogs by narrow margin of seven points last weekend, they used Saturday night’s second top end clash to beat the Adelaide Crows by 25 points.
Despite a slow start, the Suns adjusted well to the contest and ultimately skipped away with the game, much to the digust of Crows’ coach Matthew Nicks, who is left to count the cost of another loss away from home.
Dew, for his part, was impressed with the way his side responded to a slow start, but said his squad love playing footy in Darwin.
“Obviously that needs to be decided, but we love playing footy here [in Darwin] and if that’s the case, as you’ve seen the last two years, we embrace it. We love getting amongst the community and we feel that we are the Territory’s team,” Dew said during his post-game press conference.
“I think the players enjoy that. What comes from that is clearly out of my wheelhouse, but certainly as a footy club we were really professional the way we went about it. We gave the players a good program, as we did staff, and I think we got the rewards.
“A lot of people put a lot of time into this trip. It’s not easy. It might seem it, but I think to get the two wins again is not only reward not only for the players but our staff and supporters.”
In a game which saw the Suns run up their second-highest score of the season with 112, the club dominated the contest after the opening quarter to put the Crows away and improve their record to six and six.
While Dew wants his club to play finals football at the end of the year, he said the Darwin trip has been important on multiple fronts, both on and off the field.
The Suns, who are expecting to gain players back on the other side of next week’s bye, travel to Melbourne for their next game on June 18 against the Carlton Blues, before hosting the Hawthorn Hawks the following week in a pair of crucial games.