GOLD COAST is no doubt still celebrating its history-making Smithy’s VFL premiership victory over Werribee at the weekend. But what did the Suns’ players have to say straight after the game?

CONNOR BLAKELY
(who announced his retirement before the game)
“I said to a few people before the game that win or lose it is an awesome way to finish a career, I think it’s just like a cherry on top to get the win.”

“Credit to Werribee, they’re such a good outfit and they tested us the whole way through.

“It was awesome for the club as a whole to get their first bit of silverware and just for the young guys to experience something like that – Oskar Faulkhead, Elijah Hollands, Ned Moyle, people like that."

CHRIS BURGESS
(dual Frosty Miller medallist)
“It’s unreal. It’s a great feeling. Ot was a tough game but we stuck at it and got the win.

“The team has been gelling together for the past two years and we didn’t get to the Grand Final last year but we made the most of it this year.

“We’ve got four genuine talls up there (in attack) so at least one of us is getting a mismatch and the way we’re moving the ball at the moment, we’re just really dangerous. As soon as it gets into the forward line we know we’re kicking goals.”

MABIOR CHOL
(dual VFL premiership player)
“It feels pretty sweet. My first one was obviously a couple of years ago with Richmond and this is special, obviously Gold Coast’s first flag and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”

ALEX DAVIES
(young midfielder)
“It was a grind. It was a battle all game, they tested us and we tested them.

“We did expect them to come back and put a few on us but it was just for us to focus and keep pulling ahead and we were able to do that.

“That’s why we’re so strong, we love playing for each other, we just had to make the most of it.

“We’re just happy we got it done, it was a battle, especially in the midfield, it was a wrestle all day but we finally got it done and got a Cup for the Suns."

SAM DAY
(Foundation Sun)
“Unbelievable. The group all year has been really tight and I think you can tell what it meant to all of us, but for me individually there has been a few ups but plenty of downs so to be able to get that one on the board is awesome.

“The way the guys applied themselves this year … the club is strong, and if you look at the AFL premiers over the past few years all their VFL teams are strong so this is a great start and I’m just pumped to be able to celebrate with these guys.

“We’ve been together for most of the year, a few ins and outs, but I’m loving the way we went about it today and hopefully there’s more to come.”

JARED ECKERSLEY
(Second year VFL-listed Academy product)
“It’s awesome, the boys played so well and it was such a great atmosphere.

“There’s always going to be nerves in a game like this but we’ve got to just try to stick to our process.

“All the boys get around everyone and it’s probably the most connected group I’ve been a part of.”

JY FARRAR
(rebounding defender)
“I think the standard was pretty high, the ball was whipping around a lot more than we would have liked from two really good teams.

“(We had to be on our guard) all the time, they moved the ball pretty quickly as well but once we started to soften their “duck ups”, their high forward 50s, that was when we started to get it on our terms … but they’re a real good, real proud footy club and I tip my hat to them.

“The AFL team has been pretty consistent most of the year and the twos have been as well – we’ve had all this time to bond and learn how blokes like to play, where they want the footy and stuff like that.

“We’ve spent pretty much the whole year just bonding, getting better and pushing each other to get better.”

OSKAR FAULKHEAD
(second year AFL player)
“It’s unreal, it’s my first ever one so I’ll take it all in, but it’s surreal at the moment.

“It’s the club’s first one as well so I’ve loved the experience.

“I’ve got about 30 or more (people) here from Mildura who made the trip down, which was good."

ELIJAH HOLLANDS
(Norm Goss Medal runner-up)
“It’s surreal, obviously it’s been well documented in the last couple of weeks that this was our first chance as a footy club to bring some silverware home and the boys who played today understood that, the boys who have played through the finals series understood that and we understood our roles and we were just able to get the job done that way and it’s a very special feeling.

“It's one of those days where you don’t really care how you play, you just care about the result solely, but I’m just glad I was able to chip in and have a positive impact on our win.”

JOEL JEFFREY
(intercept marking swingman)
“Great, it was a good win by the boys and we made our supporters proud, we just stayed connected and got it done, so it was good.”

LEO LOMBARD
(16yo Academy prodigy)
“I don’t even know what to say right now I’m that stoked. I love the crowd, I feed off it and that was my first goal for VFL, so it was good.”

NED MOYLE
(2022 VFL Team of the Year ruckman)
“(Werribee ruckman Kobe Annand) is really competitive, he has a crack, he doesn’t leave anything out there so it was a very tough day.

“It probably ebbed and flowed a bit, early he was really good and because he’s such a good competitor he gave me a hard time.

“It’s so good, I love it, we’ve been such a close group and this last month after the AFL season ended has been different but it has been so much fun spending Monday to Friday together and I couldn’t be happier.”

ALEX SEXTON
(experienced mid-sized forward)
“It’s great mate, the amount of people who came down here from the Goldie is awesome.”

JEREMY SHARP
(rebound defender who kicked the sealing goal)
“Unreal, it was such a good feeling (to kick that goal), it meant a lot in front of the faithful down there, it was incredible.

“We’ve built so much connection over the last month through the finals series and it felt like today we had such a great opportunity to create some pretty special memories and we did that.

“(Coach Josh Drummond) is just an incredibly gifted bloke at building the connection, he brings us all together and allows us to play the footy we did today – we’re very grateful to have him.”

BODHI UWLAND
(mid-sized defender)
“They brought the contest from the start and we knew that going into the game, it was red hot footy and that’s what finals footy is – it was a very high standard of footy for the VFL.

“It was coming in quick and hot and the game never seemed to slow down so it was credit to them, they did really well, especially in the contest getting that ball forward.

“I was lucky to have most of my family travel down and both my parents are from Victoria so lots of family to come to the game and the support was there so it was awesome.”

JOSH DRUMMOND
(First Suns Premiership Coach)
“One of the big takeaways from it is that it was a huge stage, everything is on the line, the loser has that empty feeling and the winner takes all the glory – we’ve had a lot of experiences this year, some positive, some not so positive and I think we’ve grown from that so it was great to see at different stages today.

“To Werribee’s credit, they kept coming at us and every time they came we pushed back as well so I’m just really proud of their ability to do that.

“The credit goes to the players because a lot of that is mental and how they approach it – when we played Werribee last time we were in a similar position and we stopped playing but we learned that lesson and that loss probably held us in great stead today because we just said play like you’re a goal down and that meant we had a bit of urgency in the way we played and I thought our ability to stay composed in that moment was huge.”

BEN HOLLANDS
(Former Richmond player, father of Elijah)
“We’re thrilled for him, you don’t get to play in a flag at any level all that often – they’re very hard to win, so for him to not only achieve this, but I just thought he played a really brave, fantastic, game so we’re super proud of him. It’s a great reward for an awesome season so I’m really happy for the boys.”