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Gold Coast vs Essendon

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 1   Venue: Carrara Stadium   Date: Sat, 26-03-2016 3:35 pm   Crowd: 16,239  
Gold Coast 5.5.3511.9.7515.14.10417.19.121 C:  Rodney Eade
Essendon 1.0.65.1.317.5.479.6.60 C:  John Worsfold
  SUNS by 29SUNS by 44SUNS by 57SUNS by 61  
Weather
min temp  20.3°C      max temp  29.3°C
rainfall  0mm    humidity  69%    air pressure  1014.0mb
wind speed 28km/h      wind direction  NNE
Brownlow Medal 3 Aaron Hall (SUNS)2 Tom Lynch (SUNS)1 Gary Ablett (SUNS)

Match Report

The Gold Coast Suns did what they had to do against an embattled Essendon at Carrara on Saturday afternoon, kicking off the season with a 10-goal win over the Bombers. Only time will tell, however, if the Suns are the 'real deal' in 2016, with no one yet really sure what a 'par' score will be this season against the Bombers, who have had the heart ripped out of their team as a result of the WADA suspension handed to most of their players.

David Zaharakis scored the first goal of the match, giving Essendon am early lead but with majors to Touk Miller and Jack Martin by the five-minute mark, Gold Coast took a lead that it would not relinquish for the rest of the afternoon. By quarter time the Suns had added another three goals, through Jesse Lonergan, Tom Lynch (two), and led by a comfortable 29 points.

Essendon looked as good as it would all day in the first five minutes of the second term, and goals to Shaun McKernan and Ryan Crowley had the Dons within 16 points. But Gary Ablett sparked the Suns with his first and it was one-way traffic Gold Coast's way for the next 20 minutes as Aaron Hall, Jack Martin, debutant Callum Ah Chee and Dion Prestia all added goals to put the Suns 49 points clear. Kyle Langford pulled one back for the Dons but Lynch responded for the Suns before a late goal to Joe Daniher cut the difference to 44 points at the long break.

Zaharakis repeated his first-quarter effort with the first goal of the third term but the next four majors went Gold Coast's way via Sam Day, Hall, Nick Malceski and Lynch. Ex-Cat Mathew Stokes closed out the quarter with his first for the Bombers but the Suns were a long way clear - 56 points - at the last change of ends.

Somewhat incredibly, Stokes also kicked the first two goals of the final term, meaning that Essendon had kicked the first goal in every quarter, including the first two of the second and last terms. Sam day resumed normal service for the Suns with a goal at the 10-minute mark, before an extended period in which neither team could manage more than behinds. Eventually Sun Alex Sexton broke the drought, and Gold Coast cruised to a 61-point win.

In his return from injury, Ablett was sublime, with 34 possessions and a goal, while Hall (36 disposals, two goals) was also outstanding. For Essendon, Zaharakis (33 touches, two goals) was a fine player for four quarters, with Zach Merrett (31 disposals, 10 marks) also playing a solid match.

The Suns can expect a much sterner test in round two when they take on Fremantle at Subiaco on Sunday. A win there would certainly strengthen Gold Coast's claims to being the 'real deal'. The Bombers will face first-up winners Melbourne on Saturday at the MCG.

GOALS
Gold Coast: Lynch 4; Martin, Day, Hall 2; Ah Chee, Malceski, Lonergan, Miller, Sexton, Prestia, Ablett
Essendon: Stokes 3; Zaharakis 2; McKernan, Daniher, Crowley, Langford

BEST - THE SUNDAY HERALD SUN
Gold Coast: Ablett, Hall, Rischitelli, Lynch, Prestia, Rosa, Lonergan
Essendon: Zaharakis, Z. Merrett, Kelly, Goddard

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Gold Coast: Hall, Ablett, Rosa, Sexton, Rischitelli, Lynch, Malceski
Essendon: Zaharkis, Stokes, Parish, Z.Merrett

INJURIES
Gold Coast: Kolodjashnij (illness) replaced in selected side by Ah Chee
Essendon: Nil

UMPIRES: Hosking, Hay, McInerney

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

Source

Match report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL.

Match stats

Gold Coast Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
9 Ablett, Gary 20 4 14 34 1 3 0 7 3 2 31y 317d 275 369
13 Ah Chee, Callum 4 1 4 8 1 1 0 5 1 0 18y 169d 1 1
27 Cameron, Clay 7 7 8 15 0 0 0 3 1 0 21y 304d 16 1
39 Davis, Ryan 8 1 9 17 0 2 0 4 1 0 26y 293d 15 4
12 Day, Sam 7 4 8 15 2 0 2 2 3 2 23y 202d 79 53
33 Hall, Aaron 19 4 17 36 2 1 0 3 0 1 25y 138d 62 57
5 Harbrow, Jarrod 10 3 10 20 0 1 0 2 0 1 27y 252d 164 48
23 Lemmens, Sean 4 0 6 10 0 0 0 2 1 1 21y 145d 37 6
37 Lonergan, Jesse 9 3 11 20 1 0 0 6 0 0 21y 133d 32 4
19 Lynch, Tom 8 7 10 18 4 1 0 4 1 2 23y 147d 81 128
7 Malceski, Nick 12 4 7 19 1 2 0 3 2 2 31y 224d 193 71
4 Martin, Jack 8 4 5 13 2 0 0 8 1 0 21y 57d 24 23
17 May, Steven 12 6 4 16 0 0 0 2 0 1 24y 76d 72 15
18 McKenzie, Trent 13 7 4 17 0 0 0 5 1 0 23y 358d 93 22
11 Miller, Touk 9 2 11 20 1 2 0 2 1 1 20y 33d 23 8
22 Nicholls, Tom 5 3 5 10 0 0 24 4 0 2 24y 22d 31 5
10 Prestia, Dion 13 3 16 29 1 0 0 9 0 0 23y 166d 82 27
35 Rischitelli, Michael 7 3 20 27 0 0 0 7 2 0 30y 78d 200 85
3 Rosa, Matt 16 9 16 32 0 0 0 1 0 1 29y 124d 169 39
42 Saad, Adam 7 6 8 15 0 1 0 3 0 0 21y 247d 17 1
6 Sexton, Alex 15 6 8 23 1 2 0 3 0 1 22y 114d 38 19
16 Thompson, Rory 10 4 4 14 0 0 1 2 2 0 25y 14d 66 7
  Rushed   3  
  Totals 223 91 205 428 17 19 27 87 20 17 24y 180d 1770 993
Essendon Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
29 Ambrose, Patrick 8 3 4 12 0 0 0 4 1 2 24y 207d 33 19
12 Baguley, Mark 11 7 5 16 0 0 0 3 0 1 28y 310d 73 2
24 Bird, Craig 4 1 7 11 0 0 0 6 0 0 27y 65d 138 56
28 Brown, Mitch 10 4 3 13 0 0 0 2 2 2 25y 211d 16 9
17 Cooney, Adam 7 4 7 14 0 0 0 3 2 1 30y 178d 231 196
51 Crowley, Ryan 6 3 7 13 1 0 1 2 0 0 32y 21d 189 117
6 Daniher, Joe 7 5 4 11 1 1 1 1 1 0 22y 22d 49 66
49 Dea, Matt 6 5 9 15 0 0 0 5 1 0 24y 165d 32 1
8 Gleeson, Martin 11 5 8 19 0 0 0 2 0 0 21y 214d 32 4
9 Goddard, Brendon 8 7 16 24 0 0 0 1 1 2 30y 311d 270 149
42 Gwilt, James 11 5 7 18 0 0 0 1 0 1 29y 228d 138 25
47 Kelly, James 15 8 11 26 0 0 0 7 2 1 32y 88d 274 88
30 Langford, Kyle 7 3 6 13 1 0 0 0 1 2 19y 116d 9 4
22 Leuenberger, Matthew 2 3 6 8 0 0 32 0 1 1 27y 293d 109 27
43 McDonald-Tipungwuti, Anthony 6 0 4 10 0 1 0 2 1 0 22y 339d 1 0
44 McKernan, Shaun 4 1 2 6 1 0 5 0 2 3 25y 207d 44 28
20 Merrett, Jackson 9 4 12 21 0 0 0 3 0 0 23y 28d 44 19
7 Merrett, Zach 18 10 13 31 0 0 0 3 0 1 20y 175d 38 15
3 Parish, Darcy 8 5 17 25 0 0 0 6 0 0 18y 245d 1 0
52 Simpkin, Jonathan 8 3 9 17 0 0 0 2 0 3 28y 150d 38 16
48 Stokes, Mathew 18 7 9 27 3 1 0 1 1 0 31y 125d 190 206
11 Zaharakis, David 21 5 12 33 2 2 0 2 1 0 26y 34d 127 98
  Rushed   1  
  Totals 205 98 178 383 9 6 39 56 17 20 26y 20d 2076 1145

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.