Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Youth) Share this | Hansard source

On 2 April 2011, the Gold Coast Suns played their first AFL game against Carlton at the Gabba. Their first true home game, at the then Metricon Stadium in Moncrieff, came over a month later, on 28 May, where 155 players have since been and gone. The club has seen six coaches, slotted 3,576 goals and played 327 games at 22 different grounds in every state and territory. The club also played two games in China against Port in 2017 and 2018. The grind has been well and truly worth it. Now we're finals-bound!

It's a journey that started when the AFL issued the Gold Coast Football Club a licence on 31 March 2009. That was 5,993 days ago. I'm full of status this morning! It may have taken us a little longer than our brothers at the Titans to secure a finals birth, but we did it! Raw heart, passion and emotion in the heart of the Gold Coast—three things we're not short of on the Goldie. That translates when our Suns take to the field. It also translates to our membership, which is evident in the all-time membership record that reached new heights on Monday—30,107 members! We certainly hold our own with a membership figure of that size. It's a well-deserved additional feather in the cap for this historic year. This marks six years in a row of membership records for the club. Our Suns keep going from strength to strength both on and off the field.

Let me run through a few more club records. We have a 15-to-9 win-loss ratio, which is four wins up on the club's previous best last year. We have a percentage of 124.9, which is up 22.1 per cent on the previous best in 2022. We have an average score of 94.5 points, which is up on the previous best of 87.2 points, way back in season 2, in 2013. We have an average score against of 75.7, which, on an adjusted basis, is better than the 64.6 recorded in the short games of the 2020 COVID season. These are absolutely unreal states. And I have no doubt that they'll be all gas and no brakes when they play Freo on Saturday night. The whole of the Gold Coast is absolutely 100 per cent behind you. Up the Suns! Go the Suns! We are the Suns!

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