AS GOLD Coast's season took another lunge towards the bottom of the ladder on Saturday night, the focus on co-captain Tom Lynch intensified.
Although Lynch will not make any decision on his free agency public until the end of the season – nor is it likely he's even made it privately – the evidence on both sides of the ledger is becoming clear.
Stay with the Suns or head to a big Melbourne club? Stay loyal or chase success?
Ahead of last year's NAB AFL Trade period, Lynch's manager Robbie D'Orazio said the power forward wanted to win games and win premierships.
Lynch would look at the new coach, the assistants and what sort of players they chased in the draft, D'Orazio said.
"Without putting a time frame on it, I'm sure by midway through next year, if they're 0-11 but they're competing, that might be OK," he said. "But if they're 0-11 and getting smashed then we'll wait and see."
Gold Coast is now 10 games into life under Stuart Dew, and after successive wins over North Melbourne and Carlton to start their season, have lost seven of the past eight – and some were "getting smashed".
Saturday night's shocker against Geelong won't sit well with anyone, particularly a player weighing up his future.
Gold Coast has the worst average losing margin of any team in the AFL, at 51 points.
With just 11 quarters won, the Suns also sit at the bottom of that category, although having played one game less than St Kilda (12), Carlton (13), Brisbane (14) and Essendon (15).
Will Tom Lynch leave the Gold Coast beaches in search of success? Picture: Michael Willson
What is there for Lynch to like?
Gold Coast has shown a distinctive gameplan under Dew. It's contested footy and it's accountable. Aside from the Geelong match and a couple of quarters on the road against West Coast and Adelaide, you know what you're getting from them.
They lead the competition in average tackles (70) and are fifth for contested possessions.
When the bodies are more seasoned and accustomed to playing that way, it's a style that should stand up against finals teams.
The players love Dew. He's family-orientated and most notably has embraced the Gold Coast community and its football clubs.
STAY OR GO? Is he warming to Gold Coast?
But the fruit of a rebuild or retool looks a few years off.
Injuries have again hurt the Suns and exposed a lack of depth that can only be fixed over time and with good development.
In the meantime, Lynch is part of a forward line that receives 49 inside 50s a game, ranked 17th in the league.
Lynch has won just 29 per cent of his 128 games with the Suns and things don't look like changing in a hurry. He'll need patience to be successful.
Perhaps Melbourne's Nathan Jones could provide some inspiration for Gold Coast.
Jones won just 24 per cent of his first 200 games, and now three years later looks like making the finals.
Lynch is fiercely loyal, and in a perfect world would see out his time at Carrara, happy to say he took the Suns to the promised land with originals like Steven May, David Swallow and Sam Day.
He took time out of his annual leave to travel to Sydney to woo then All Australian Nick Malceski to the club.
Money and length of deal will likely be similar wherever he lands – in fact, Lynch could squeeze more out of the Suns – he doesn't seek the limelight, nor is he a homebody that must return to Victoria to be with family.
But as the weeks tick by and the losses mount, it's becoming more evident if Lynch craves the success his manager says he does, he's going to have to move elsewhere to find it.
