Gold Coast Suns Fire Stuart Dew As Coach

Gold Coast Suns fire Stuart Dew as coach, and move for Damien Hardwick is likely

• Steven King, assistant coach, is expected to be the interim coach
• Suns are almost certain to be interested in AFL flag-winner Hardwick

Stuart Dew, the Gold Coast Suns’ coach has been fired. The club is currently ranked 13th in the AFL ladder.

Gold Coast’s decision to sack Stuart Dew was made because of a “clear gulf” between expectations and results. Dew was fired by the board unanimously on Monday evening, with only 18 months left on his contract.

This came six days after Mark Evans, the chief executive of Richmond, publicly backed Dew while denying that the club had contacted Hardwick. Hardwick was a three-time premiership champion who recently left Richmond. Evans and the newly-installed Bob East said on Tuesday that they had not contacted Hardwick but Dew wasn’t the Suns long-term answer.

“There is a clear gap between where we currently sit and where our expectations lie,” East said. “The senior coach selection process will be solely designed to close that gap. It’s crystal clear to us that this decision was a necessary decision.”

Gold Coast will end the season under assistant Steven King’s leadership, and they appear to be destined to miss out on a 13th consecutive finals campaign. After two consecutive defeats, they are now 7-9.

Club bosses, however, said the fortnight didn’t cost Dew. They pointed to the season-long record of the club which included a scolding from Carlton when they were 6-6 at the time of the bye.

Evans explained that last week, the vouch for support was given to try and stabilise Dew’s position after intense public speculation. However, the situation changed on Monday when the board convened.

Evans stated, “I cannot come out and state that after a decision is made. That happened last night.” “This time last season, we were in a better position in terms of wins, and especially in percentage. It feels like there’s a gap between the rest of the competitors.”

The Suns are only one win away from the top eight, but with a difficult run-in, they will likely need to win six of seven rounds in order to qualify for their first finals appearance.

“Once we’ve identified that Stuey wasn’t going to be the ongoing coach for us, the best thing to do was to deal with it immediately,” Evans said. “We think we’ve got a great list …. some experts in our football department and we think that we’ll need a new senior coach to actually go to the [desired] level.”

Dew became Gold Coast’s third coach full-time in 2018. He was hired after Guy McKenna‘s and Rod Eade’s stints at the club, which entered the AFL back in 2011.

Hardwick, who left his position in May, has expressed an interest in making a return. Port coach Ken Hinkley is not under contract beyond the current season. East said that he would wait until Evans outlined the “next step” in order to replace Dew.

“No. I want to deal with this bit properly,” Evans said when asked if he would now reach out to Hardwick.