Matt Rowell headlines five Suns inclusions as the club looks to tie together consecutive wins at its home away from home in Darwin against Yartapuulti. Live updates below!
Jed Walter and Zeke Uwland also return for Gold Coast (6-3, 118.5%), but Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (ankle) is a late out after he tweaked his ankle with his last shot at goal at training on Thursday night. The forward was replaced by Jarrod Witts. Port Adelaide — renamed Yartapuulti (3-6, 109.5%) for Sir Doug Nicholls Round — regains Esava Ratugolea and om Anastasopoulos comes in for his AFL debut.
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Match details: Gold Coast v Yartapuulti from 8:10pm AEST at TIO Stadium.
Watch it live: On Fox Footy (channel 504), and streaming on Kayo.
READ ALSO: ‘You’re almost there, keep going’: Inside Eddie Betts’ selfless act for Pies star
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THE 3-2-1 …
1. JAMARRA RULED OUT AFTER PRE-GAME HYPE
An unfortunate last-minute training incident ultimately led to an unfortunate Suns late withdrawal.
There’d been ample hype around Gold Coast recruit Jamarra Ugle-Hagan in the lead-up to Friday night’s clash in Darwin.
But ultimately fans at TIO Stadium didn’t get to see the key forward in action after he was pulled from Gold Coast’s team an hour before the game. He was replaced by ex-skipper Jarrod Witters.
Fox Footy panellist Jon Ralph reported Ugle-Hagan tweaked his ankle at training on Thursday “with his last shot at goal”.
“The Suns gave him every chance to get up including a late-arvo fitness test when he got to the ground but he just wasn’t right,” Ralph wrote on X.
Ralph added the Suns were “very confident” Ugle-Hagan would be fit to take on North Melbourne next week.
It comes after Ugle-Hagan spoke to both of Melbourne’s major newspapers during the week to reflect on his journey back to football and the dark spot he was in last year.
In a notable reveal, Ugle-Hagan told CODE Sports’ Lauren Wood he was made to attend a rehab facility by the AFL in Byron Bay – where he ultimately spent four months – if he wanted to resurrect his career.
Ugle-Hagan also acknowledged he wasn’t being influenced by the right “environments”, adding: “I wasn’t myself. I didn’t have that right bubble.
“I was so numb to emotions, feelings … and I didn’t know that was affecting things around me, because of just the way I was and the environments I was hanging around with.”
The high-flying key forward told The Age’s Jake Niall that he holds no ill feeling towards the Bulldogs, who dealt Ugle-Hagan to the Suns for just Pick 74 last year.
“I wouldn’t say anything went wrong,” he said of his time at his former club.
“I just think it was more myself, decisions I made, and me as a stubborn little kid.
The Suns were dealt another injury blow at the start of the second quarter, with veteran Lachie Weller ruled out with a hamstring issue.