Suns coach Stuart Dew claims he’s not listening to criticism of Gold Coast’s poor begin to the AFL season, saying doing so can be “negligent” to his gamers.
The Suns have began the season with three losses from 4 matches to place a dampener – not for the primary time of their historical past – on pre-season expectations this might lastly be the 12 months they play finals soccer.
Brisbane Lions’ triple-premiership winner, Jonathan Brown, took goal on the Suns on Monday night time’s episode of Fox Footy’s On The Couch, questioning whether or not “high standards” had been being pushed on the Gold Coast.
“Do you think the fact that the Suns maybe have to walk on eggshells, the coaching staff and the people around the footy club, because they’re worried about losing players to homesickness? Do you think that’s anything?” Brown mentioned.
“I believe that’s been the problem at Gold Coast Suns for a long time.
“The challenge of getting a list to be accountable and play with resilience and toughness and competitiveness is you’ve got to make tough buggers out of them, so you’ve got to drive some hard standards.”
However, Dew gained’t use criticism of the Suns to inspire his gamers forward of Friday’s Gather Round conflict towards Fremantle at Norwood Oval. Instead, he’ll ignore it.
“I haven’t listened to it,” Dew mentioned.
“That’s fine to have opinions and observations … it’s Australia’s game, everyone can have a chat.
“We can’t burn our energy on that stuff. It would be negligent to the players. We’ve got to concentrate on what we can control.
“We’ve shown our best this year, (and) we’ve shown our worst, so we’re trying to close that gap.
“I’m certainly not putting opinions up on the wall for motivation.”
Dew mentioned the Suns wanted to make “better decisions” when in possession of the ball.
He additionally mentioned his facet needed to emulate Fremantle – who’ve additionally began the season with only one win from 4 video games – in contested ball.
“If you don’t match them in that area you’re going to be playing them in your own half,” Dew mentioned.
“Fremantle are probably scratching their heads as much as us. We are preparing for their best, and we want to make sure we prepare to bring our best.”
It’s unlikely the Suns will threat taking part in co-captain Jarrod Witts, who missed final weekend’s 53-point loss to St Kilda and stays “sore”.
“It’s hard to put a timeline on it; some days are good for him, some days aren’t,” Dew mentioned.
“We anticipate that when we bring him back in he’s at a really good level.”
Dew additionally mentioned the type of rookie ruckman Ned Moyle on debut towards the Saints meant there was no must gamble on Witts’ health.
“We’ve got confidence in (Moyle) which allows us not to take risks with ‘Wittsy’. It’s good exposure for him and obviously great for his development,” the Suns mentor mentioned.
“We want to pick the best team and the most in-form team. There are some players in form that we’d like to reward.”
Originally printed as Suns coach Stuart Dew says his gamers can’t afford to ‘burn energy’ on what critics say
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
