Road to ruin: Why the Suns can't shine away from home

FIFTEEN consecutive times Gold Coast has got on a plane at Coolangatta to play away from home, and 15 times it has returned with no premiership points.

In one of the more eye-popping statistics of this season, the Suns are 9-0 at home and 0-8 on the road ahead of Saturday's game against Greater Western Sydney at Engie Stadium.

But this travel problem goes back to the middle of 2023. Not since the round nine trip to Perth to face West Coast on May 12, where they won by 70 points, have the Suns returned victorious.

Yes, the Suns have subsequently been to their home away from home in Darwin for two-game trips in the middle of both seasons, winning all four matches, but these don't count to the travel record for obvious reasons.

So, what's going wrong and how do they change it?

Michael Rischitelli saw plenty in his 243-game career with Brisbane and Gold Coast, enduring travel from the east coast and suffering long losing streaks on the road.

In Gold Coast's formative 2011 and 2012 seasons, it went an entire year between triumphs, with victories against Richmond in Cairns – yes, they were Tigers home games, remember? – bookending the losing streak.

Rischitelli said such droughts could not be attributed to one thing, but conceded mindset was important to "breaking the curse".

"It's not the travelling that determines the losses, it's in the mind, it's the personnel, it's a lot of things," Rischitelli told AFL.com.au.

"Your preparation for traveling might have nothing to do with on-field, but it's hydration, it's flying in the right apparel - tights for the plane - it's everything. 

"You have to train to travel. It's not the flying, it's more the mindset.

"I dare say 'Dimma' (coach Damien Hatdwick) would be thinking of ways to break the curse and the reasons behind it.

"I'm sure there's elements on field that are causing the losses, but it's the mindset and the connection and for whatever reason there's a disconnect."

Hardwick said the Suns needed to "grow the f*** up" after their most recent loss away from Carrara, a four-point defeat to then-bottom placed North Melbourne.

Statistics provided by Champion Data show a stark drop-off in Player Ratings from many Suns when they travel.

Co-captain Touk Miller – who is currently sidelined with a fractured wrist – is 36 per cent down on his home output.

Ben King (34 per cent), Noah Anderson (25 per cent) and Matt Rowell (15 per cent) are all down from the team's prime movers.

Rischitelli said travelling was no excuse for losing, pointing to West Coast winning premierships with the longest and most arduous (along with Fremantle) schedule in the competition.

He said a lot like poor goalkicking when teams kicked a string of consecutive behinds, a losing streak could sometimes become contagious and get in your head.

"It's a stat that's there, but it's probably not something the coaches are looking at," he said.

"They'd just be looking at who they're playing and how they can win. You've just got to find a way.

"Getting a win would be in the forefront of their mind, but every game is very very hard to win. Let's not forget there's a whole other club doing exactly the same as you out there.

"If you prep well and train well, you give yourself every chance. You just have to keep it simple and focus on the process."

Will it be 16th time lucky on Saturday? If Gold Coast has designs on playing in its first final in September, it might be a good time to break the streak.