As more and more stories emerge on the AFL's Gold Coast Suns, their alleged drug culture, the seedy "double-agent player" Karmichael Hunt (who has since gone back to rugby after a seven million dollar venture into footy over the last four years), the cocaine parties at the end-of-season gatherings, and the 1-11 disaster on the field (stretching back to superstar Gary Ablett's shoulder injury last season, the Suns are actually 2-18 over their last twenty games), including the mysterious firing of coach Guy McKenna at the end of last season...I've decided to pull my allegiance from the Suns as my club of choice when rooting from afar.
It was easy to root for the Suns... new, exciting, young and talented players, the glittering Gold Coast of Australia's touristy southeastern seaside, topped off by the decision of the greatest player in the game: Geelong's Gary Ablett, Jr., chose to make his move from the south coast of Victoria to become the "founding mentor captain" of this new, fledgling club, the seventeenth AFL member (GWS joined the following year, rescuing the Suns from a second "wooden spoon" in 2012).
And they made progress! After three-win seasons in 2011 and 2012, they moved up to 8-14 in 2013, and competitive enough (92%) to make people see the potential for this young team to make finals soon and compete for championships in the not-so-distant future. Last year, after round 9, they were in third place at 7-2, and even after a tough stretch against some top competition, they entered round 15 with an 8-6 record, ready to tackle Collingwood on an even basis for the first time.
The game was a two-faced milestone for the team.
On the negative side, Ablett was tackled and slammed to the ground in the early third quarter, damaging his shoulder to the point where he wouldn't play again the rest of the season. On the positive end, his teammates rallied (with no exchange players on the bench in the fourth quarter due to multiple injuries) and beat Collingwood heroically by five points to move to 9-6, safely in the top eight, a game clear.
Then the wheels not only fell off: they flew across the highway and wrecked three cars, flipped the car over and set it on fire.
The Suns won only one more game all season, barely beating lowly St. Kilda and losing to everyone else, to fall to twelfth at 10-12, still their best season ever. At this moment, this is where Karmichael Hunt admitted yesterday to Queensland police that he brought huge amounts of cocaine to share with his teammates at a weekend party following the Manic Monday season-ending bash.
These accusations came up months ago, as reported by Damian Barrett. and were conveniently swept under the counter. As Barrett notes in that video clip, the essence of the message (then AND now) from both the Suns administration and the AFL, was "Nothing to see here, move along, guys..." , when it seems clear to all that indeed there was and IS something to see and hear.
As a Christian, I forgive mistakes with ease, as Christ does. But what gets people in trouble with not only God but society as a whole? Hypocrisy. LIE about what you did and didn't do, and get caught lying about it, and you've joined the "Barry Bonds/Lance Armstrong/Alex Rodriguez" school of ruining your life.
That appears to be exactly what the Suns have done, are doing, and will continue to try to o for as long as they can get away with it. They've nailed a number of their players for minor drinking violations - a glass of wine with family the weekend after a game? - to bend over backwards to prove they don't have a drug culture, forgetting that the first rule of spotting a liar is to watch them exaggerate in the other direction. Now that Hunt has apparently sung to the cops about what his part in the game was, here's hoping the Suns players AND management finally come clean about this. (But I doubt this will happen.)
Meanwhile...anyone got a team to suggest? My late wife always favored Geelong, as she loved Cats. I've liked the team cultures there and at Fremantle and Hawthorn, for example, beyond their recent success on the field. When they're playing well, I love watching Sydney, Port, or Brisbane. Hmmmm.... I might need to stay neutral for the season...
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