Source :- THE AGE NEWS
James Sicily has given away a costly 50m penalty. What a brain fade.
It looked to be for umpire dissent. He was standing a mark on the boundary line after Ben Long took a fine grab and kept having words with the umpire.
He seemed to be complaining that the ball had cleared the boundary line before Long took the mark.
The umpire wasn’t having any of it. As a result, Long was taken the goal square and kicked an easy goal.
The Suns are setting the early pace against Hawthorn, leading 2.1 (13) to 0.0 (0).
Of concern to the Hawks is an injury to Massimo D’Ambrosio. He has been taken from the field by medical staff. It is hard to see or say what seems to be the issue. Maybe a concussion test.
We are underway on the Gold Coast and the Suns have nailed a goal in the first 30 seconds.
They won the ball from the centre square (something that will annoy Sam Mitchell), smashed the ball forward and Bailey Humphrey collected the Sherrin off the deck and snapped truly.
It was a bit unlucky for the Hawks. Midfielder Will Day was pinged for holding the ball, allowing Noah Anderson to take the free kick and send the ball into attack.
Already the ground conditions look greasy. The ball has slipped out of a few players’ hands, and there are a few divots in the playing surface. This will suit the Suns, you would think.
Sam Mitchell says star forward Nick Watson has a free rein to play through the Hawthorn midfield.
But the Hawthorn coach shrugged his shoulder when asked on Kayo Sports about the Wizard’s specific role.
“I’ve got no idea what Nick’s doing, to be honest,” Mitchell said.
“The thing about most forwards is they want to be mids.
Damien Hardwick has dismissed speculation that all is not well within the Gold Coast camp.
Suns players such as star forward Ben King have been at the centre of trade talk following the club’s three straight losses.
Commentators also highlighted unrest between the players during their loss to Geelong.
“That’s what happens when you lose three in a row – the blowtorch moves and that’s the reality of AFL sports,” Hardwick said on Kayo Sports.
We can expect some physicality tonight, following Sam Mitchell’s pre-match interview.
The Hawthorn coach revealed his side were given a “few reminders” when they returned to training following their bye week and a narrow loss to the Western Bulldogs.
“[There was a] bit of revision of things that are important to us, and a bit of physicality at training, making sure you remember what it’s like to hit and be hit,” Mitchell told Fox Footy.
Mitchell said the Hawks also wanted to improve their output from the centre square.
“We are struggling to score from our centre-bounce wins, and we’re conceding quite a lot from that source,” the Hawks coach said.
“So we’ve done a bit of work on that, and total scores against, particularly from stoppage, have been an issue. So there’s a couple of things to refine there, but our ball movement and things have been okay.”
Star forward Jack Gunston was ruled out by the Hawks’ medical team midweek after he failed to recover adequately enough from training.
Coach Sam Mitchell told media on Wednesday that Gunston was still working through a foot injury.
“He just trained on Monday, and we suspected that he would pull up fine and train today, but you’ll see him not out there today, and unfortunately, he just hasn’t pulled up as well as we’d like,” Mitchell said.
“So we just need to continue to reassess. I’ve left it with the medical team, but they’ve ruled him out already.”
Gunston has already kicked 35 goals from just nine games so far in 2026.
The Dockers are one citing away from receiving a fine of up to $50,000 after a fourth of their players was cited for umpire contact this season.
Star midfielder Andrew Brayshaw was cited by the match review for careless contact with an umpire following the club’s win over Geelong on Thursday night.
The other Fremantle players who have made careless contact with an umpire already this season are Luke Jackson (round four), Murphy Reid (R10) and Shai Bolton (R12), while Neil Erasmus was cited in round one but that charge was later withdrawn.
The Suns were recently fined $20,000 after their fifth umpire contact decision.
That fine came this week after Daniel Rioli racked up the club’s fifth fine this year for careless contact with an umpire.
AFL football chief Greg Swann told the Real Footy podcast on Monday that Collingwood and GWS, like the Suns, were warned before round 14 that they were on the cusp of a club-wide fine because they each had four players who’d been fined for the offence.
In a nutshell: If Hawthorn want to stamp themselves as a premiership contender, they need to win tonight. They are in the mix, sitting fifth (8-4-1), but are still a long way off Fremantle and Sydney. The Suns have had the month from hell, dropping successive games to North Melbourne, the Brisbane Lions and Geelong while also navigating a bye. On top of that, there has been speculation about player unrest in the camp. Damien Hardwick knows better than anyone that there are few better ways to settle a perceived culture problem than winning. The Suns are ninth (7-6) and need a win. A fourth straight loss will see them mired in mediocrity.
History says: Hawthorn has a 50 per cent winning record on the Gold Coast, but don’t let that stat deceive you – they have dropped their past four matches at the venue, in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The last time these two teams met was in April this year in Launceston when Hawthorn won by 49 points. But, once again, that can be deceiving, Tassie is a distinct home ground advantage for the Hawks. The Suns are still trying to shake the chill.
At the selection table: Key defender Tom Barrass (hamstring) is a huge in for the Hawks, back for his first outing since round 10. Will be interesting to see if he takes time to acclimatise. Hawthorn also promoted Harry Morrison, while dropping Flynn Perez and Bodie Ryan. They are still without key forward Jack Gunston, who leaves a big hole in defence. Gold Coast has turned to big man Jarrod Witts, Nick Holman for his 150th game and Suns Academy product Beau Addinsall for his AFL debut. They axed Ben Jepson, Lachie Gulbin and Charlie Ballard after last week’s poor showing against Geelong at GMHBA.
He will be joined in the line-up by club stalwarts Nick Holman, who will play his 150th AFL game, and Jarrod Witts who returns after missing last weekend’s clash against the Cats.
