AFL witnesses rare outbreak of fun footy as lesser lights deliver on entertainment | Craig Little

The Gold Coast Suns also showed substance in victory over Adelaide while the GWS-Richmond clash put other prime-time match-ups in the shade

Many moons have waxed and waned since the Gold Coast Suns were a talking point following a round of football that did not question their very existence. For years the expansion club has been hard to take seriously, a team slightly less threatening than a Carlton forward’s set shot. But on Saturday night, they radiated energy like sweat on a humid Darwin night, kicking nine unanswered goals either side of half-time to defeat Adelaide by six goals.

For so much of their history, the Gold Coast has been a broken team with the soul of a Docklands’ ATM, wrecked by defections – the most recent of whom, the exciting Izak Rankine, lined up against them on Saturday night – and largely an afterthought for broadcasters. It is difficult to conceive of anyone who has watched Gold Coast for most of their 13 years in the competition doing so for enjoyment, but halfway through the 2023 season, the primary experience of watching the Suns is… well, fun.