The Look Ahead: Gold Coast in 2024

The Look Ahead will be the staple pre-season content piece, setting a tone for all 18 teams. The plan is to use them as a scene setter for team trends and individuals. In other words, don’t expect predictions, expect topics to be introduced – from both a list build and on-field perspective.

For arguably the first time, eyes are on Gold Coast. Serious eyes, not patronising ones.

Player contracts

Unless the first season of a coach goes well (see: Kingsley, Adam) there tends to be a large cleanout at the end of the campaign as players who don’t fit the new vision are shown the door.

Looking at the players out of contract in 2024 throws up plenty of names who could meet the same fate. All eyes on any surprise changes early in the season…

List demographics

It’s a nicely balanced list age-wise, with young talent coming through thanks to their academy, players either about to step forward or already contributing now, and a solid base of veterans who can still contribute.

All that’s left is a coach to put the pieces together…

Create your own Gold Coast Depth Chart

Changes in personnel

In:

National Draft: Will Graham, Ethan Read, Jake Rogers, Jed Walter
Rookie Draft: Sam Clohesy, Jack Mahony, Will Rowlands

Out: Jed Anderson, Connor Blakely, Chris Burgess, Mabior Chol, Charlie Constable, Elijah Hollands, Brodie McLaughlin, Jeremy Sharp, Jake Stein

What does a Damien Hardwick-led Gold Coast look like?

This section’s normal highlighting of potential strengths, weaknesses, and key trends feel irrelevant when a new coach is involved.

A Stuart Dew side and a Damien Hardwick side are polar opposites when it comes to offensive philosophy and given Hardwick only had a short break after leaving Richmond, I’d expect his methods to start similarly to his time at Punt Road. There surely hasn’t been enough time to evolve drastically.

Snippets from media interviews and general chat have indicated as much, which raises a question on how the Suns midfield rotation will look like. Famously Richmond didn’t prioritise first possession and clearance as much at their peak, but contested possession was a strength of the Suns as they almost completely ignored uncontested possession.

The continuity of players on Gold Coast’s list from 2023 to 2024 should help mitigate some of the learning time that naturally comes with a new coach – teaching existing players a new style is slightly easier than trying to bed in new players and a new style simultaneously.

It’s a whole lot of questions, with positional changes being trialled, and not a lot of answers yet.

What is success for Gold Coast in 2024?

With the usual caveat of availability and a regulation injury list applied, finals should be the pass mark – or it’s my pass mark at least.

It’s a list that’s been built steadily over the last few years, there’s good enough talent on every line, and now there’s the intangible of internal expectations with less of a safety net.

That type of pressure, led by an experienced coach in his honeymoon period imparting wisdom to a fresh group of players, should mean an uptick in short-term performance.