Live: Suns chase history against the Bombers, as Tom De Koning chooses Saints

The Suns have been doing the attacking in the early stages, but a good intercept mark from the Bombers stopped one move, and Ben Long then marked in the left forward pocket but his snap went too far to the right.

Suns by a point – and they are back in the eight on the live ladder!

Can Essendon lift when they are playing for pride? Can the Suns FINALLY get over the line? Will we see history made?

Stick with us to find out.

For the Suns, this HAS to be third time lucky.

The last two games, the men from the Coast have gone in within touching distance of their goal, a first-ever finals place.

But first-up they were smashed at home by GWS, and then they ran into a Port Adelaide side fuelled by emotion and a burning desire to send Ken Hinkley and Travis Boak out as winners.

As great as the result was for the Power, the loss was hugely damaging for the Suns. Now, there are no more tomorrows. Either the Suns win and make it to September, or they lose and the wait goes on.

Damien Hardwick said after the Port Adelaide game that he would put it on the playing group to respond.

There are no guarantees in footy, but there’s a fairly decent chance that the home side comes out in the opening quarter with a big point to prove, and try to get back to one of their regular fast starts they’ve shown in 2025.

If they don’t, and the Bombers remain within striking distance to half-time, things are going to get VERY nervous at Carrara.   

• Rd 18, 2025: Gold Coast by 41 (Docklands)

• Rd 23, 2024: Gold Coast by 1 (Docklands)

• Rd 13, 2024: Gold Coast by 11 (Carrara)

• Rd 2, 2023: Essendon by 28 (Docklands)

• Rd 18, 2022: Essendon by 48 (Docklands)

• Rd 22, 2021: Essendon by 68 (Kardinia Park)

At first glance, this seems like an even contest, with both teams splitting the last six encounters 3-3. However, a bit of analysis shows things a little differently.

Five of the last six have been played in Victoria, with four at Docklands and one at Kardinia Park. More importantly, only two of the six have been played with Damien Hardwick as Suns coach.

The Suns have won the last three games between the sides, and are unbeaten under Hardwick against the Bombers. The neutrals will be wanting a finish as close as the one from a year ago, with Mac Andrew kicking the winner after the siren.

However I think Suns fans would prefer the result six rounds ago, when the Suns came to Docklands and beat Brad Scott’s men by nearly seven goals.

Jay,

I don’t know what to tell you. I thought I’d be blogging a breakthrough win for the Suns last Friday night, but Port Adelaide had other ideas.

On paper, this should be it tonight, but as they say in the classics, that’s why they don’t play the games on paper.

They should win, they just have to win.

Can they?

After the last couple of weeks, a bit of positive injury news for the Suns ahead of the big game.

Described by some as their most important player for his run off half-back and delivery, Daniel Rioli has made an early return from a small fracture in his leg.

Also back from a knee problem is hard-charging midfielder Bailey Humphrey, while Jake Rogers returns to give some pace and extra crumbing ability to the forward line.

Out of the side go Alex Sexton, midseason draftee Oscar Adams and academy graduate Lachlan Gulbin.

The Bombers get a couple of valuable players back too, with Jayden Laverde returning to the backline and Sam Durham after both were late outs in the team’s loss to Carlton.

Zak Johnson is omitted, while half-forward Jade Gresham misses the season finale for personal reasons.

The subs will be Jake Rogers for the Suns, and Rhys Unwin for the Bombers.

So the Suns’ obvious target is simply to win, to ensure they finish in the top eight.

But the other element to take into consideration is the difference in percentage between the Suns and the Hawks.

There is 0.8 of a percentage point margin at the start. In practical terms, the home side needs to win by five goals to bridge that gap and overtake Hawthorn for seventh. If they do that, they will play Fremantle in the elimination final.

If they win by less than five goals, they will finish eighth and have a first-ever Expansion Cup in finals against GWS.

And if they lose, the Western Bulldogs will emerge from the wilderness and have a crack at the finals from eighth spot.

As we wait to see if history is to be made this evening, it’s good to remember it’s not just the Suns who have struggled to make an impact on national competitions across various sports from the Gold Coast.

“When the ‘Brisbane Bears came to town in 1987 it marked the first professional team representing (or playing out of) the city.

“Since then, local fans must have wondered if the area was cursed. Almost no matter how you break it down the Gold Coast has been a uniquely unsuccessful location for sporting teams.

“There have been AFL teams at Carrara for 21 years since 1987 — with no teams before this year finishing higher than 10th on the ladder.

“This Wednesday the Suns have a chance to become the first men’s AFL team from the region to play finals footy. They might be the most talented team to come from the Gold Coast in any football code, filled with local talent and highly touted juniors.

“But to win a flag you have to play finals first, and a long-rescheduled game against the injury bitten Essendon Bombers stands as their final test of the regular season.”

You can read more in Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson’s analysis of the Suns and tonight’s match below:

Former West Coast Eagles player Mitch Brown has become the first man to have played Aussie rules at AFL level to come out as bisexual.

Brown, who played 94 games for the Eagles between 2007 and 2016, told The Daily Aus that the weight of hiding his sexuality played a part in his decision to retire at 28 after being delisted.

He described the atmosphere at the club as ‘hyper-masculine’ and recalled a discussion between some of his teammates, where one said: “I’d rather be in a cage full of lions than have a shower next to a gay man.”

His decision to go public comes at a time when the atmosphere within the league has been highlighted with the furore over Crows star Izak Rankine’s four-match ban for making a homophobic slur against a Collingwood player during a game.

You can read more about it in our story here.

This last while has been about big name players rejecting the big offers to stay in their clubs for a couple of years more.

After Harley Reid and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, however, today we had a player making the jump — and it wasn’t much of a surprise.

Ruckman Tom De Koning officially let Carlton know he was taking up a free agency offer with St Kilda, an offer most likely big enough to weigh rather than count.

“To be really honest, this has been the toughest decision I have ever had to make, leaving a club I’ve loved being part of over the last eight years, with friendships I will take with me for the rest of my life,” De Koning said.

“In the end I have made a decision that is best for me, but I just really want to take this opportunity to thank the entire Carlton community who has embraced me since I was drafted — in particular the cheer squad, who have sponsored me and been an amazing support.”

De Koning has played 100 games over eight seasons and is a restricted free agent, but the Blues made clear they would not match the Saints’ bid.

“While we would have obviously loved to have retained Tom, the contract offer that we understand he has been presented with is not one we are prepared to match,” Carlton head of list management Nick Austin said.

“Ultimately the best interests of the football club come first and remains at the centre of every decision we make in regards to our list management.”

Hello, good evening and welcome to ABC’s live online coverage of the finale of round 24 of the AFL.

We haven’t said this for a few years, but here we go for Wednesday night football!

The last time this happened was in the depths of COVID, and the only reason we have it this time is because of a natural disaster in the shape of Cyclone Alfred.

Now, after 215 of the 216 home-and-away games, we only have one rescheduled fixture to finish things off — and there are some very important questions to answer.

Can the Gold Coast Suns break a 15-year-drought and make finals for the first time? Will an injury-flattened Essendon produce their first win since round 11, break the Suns’ hearts and revive the Bulldogs’ finals hopes?

Who will finish seventh and play the Giants in week one, and who will be eighth and have the big trip to the west to face the Dockers?

I’m Andrew McGarry, and I am delighted to be here to bring you all the action from the last game before finals.