Guy McKenna reflects on Gold Coast Suns' long road to historic first finals appearance
Guy McKenna coached Fremantle's Jaeger O'Meara when he was at the Gold Coast Suns (AAP Image: Joe Castro)
Guy McKenna can still remember walking into a staff meeting following the Gold Coast Suns first-ever game in the AFL.
It was April 2011, and the Suns had started life by taking a 119-point belting at the hands of Carlton at the Gabba.
After a decorated playing career with West Coast and a stint as Mick Malthouse's assistant at Collingwood, the Suns' coaching role was McKenna's first job as a senior coach in the AFL.
It was a rocky start.
McKenna coached the Suns for 88 games, before being sacked at the end of the 2014 season (AAP Image: Martin Philbey)
"It was like the end of the season, and we hadn't won a game," he told ABC Radio Perth's Extra Time.
"Everyone was head down, they didn't know where to look."
The Suns had fielded 12 debutants, with just a few experienced players in the side.
"I just said to them, 'You understand we'll never be this young again — next week, some of these blokes will play their second game'," McKenna said.
It was the beginning of a bleak season for the Suns, who lost 10 games by more than 60 points, including a 150-point loss to Geelong and a 139-point loss to Essendon.
Guy McKenna and Ken Hinkley coached together at Gold Coast, before Hinkley joined Port Adelaide. (AAP Image: Martin Philbey)
They remain the club's biggest-ever defeats.
They won just three for the season, and only three more in 2012.
But, as McKenna predicted, the Suns matured to win eight games in 2013, before the great missed opportunity of 2014.
One that got away
The Gold Coast was flying. They won seven of their first nine games of the season, were nine wins from 15 games, and on the cusp of a first finals appearance, before disaster struck.
Gary Ablett won a Brownlow Medal in 2013 at the Suns, before injuring his shoulder midway through the 2014 season. (AAP Image: Mark Dadwell)
Captain and reigning Brownlow medallist, Gary Ablett Jnr, dislocated his shoulder in round 16 against Collingwood. Gold Coast won just one more game and finished 12th.
It was also the end of McKenna, whose side also contended with injuries to Steven May, Nathan Bock, Charlie Dixon and Tom Lynch.
"We lost our spine for the last seven rounds," he said.
"I always say to people, 'I was re-signed in May and sacked in October'."
A shoulder injury to Suns captain Gary Ablett is widely cited as the reason they missed out on finals in 2014. (AAP Image: Dave Hunt)
The Suns didn't win 10 games in a season again until 2022. This year, they won 15 and have finally broken their finals drought.
"I'm so proud of the club, I'm so happy for the club," McKenna said.
"I'm so happy for all the staff and the players that were there from day one."
Dockers a mountain to climb
When the Gold Coast team runs out on Saturday night against Fremantle, they will have to overcome the weight of history to extend their drought-breaking season into a second week.
The Suns have only won four games ever in Western Australia, and only three at Perth Stadium — all against West Coast.
They have only beaten Fremantle once in Perth from seven attempts, a 26-point win at Subiaco in 2016.
In fact, the Dockers have won 11 of 16 clashes, including four of their past five games.
But despite the record, the Suns are confident they can upset Fremantle in front of a packed house.
"You could say the pressure is more on them, playing in a home final there," said Suns defender Mac Andrew.
"To be playing in one [a final] is a dream come true.
The Suns' young brigade have helped launch the club to a first finals series. (AAP Image: Darren England)
"Just what it meant for some of the guys that have been here from the start, it's a special moment for them as well."
Of the expansion sides to enter the competition since 1987, two have won their first final (Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney) while four (West Coast, Brisbane, Fremantle and Port Adelaide) lost their first times at bat.
The game will be the last for either Fremantle's Nat Fyfe or Gold Coast's David Swallow and Sean Lemmens, who have all announced they will retire at the end of the season.
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