List of Gold Coast Suns players

A male athlete with bald head wearing a sleeveless Jersey and shorts jogs on the grass surface of the playing arena.
Gary Ablett Jr. was Gold Coast's inaugural captain from 2011 to 2016.[1]

The Gold Coast Suns are a professional Australian rules football club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The club was granted a licence to join the Australian Football League (AFL) as an expansion club in March 2009,[2] and played its first match during the second round of the 2011 AFL season.[3][nb 1]

In preparation for the club's entry into the league, Gold Coast was provided with a range of recruitment concessions by the AFL, including additional selections in the 2010 AFL draft, early access to recruit underaged players,[nb 2] and access to existing clubs' out-of-contract players in the preceding offseason.[5] The club was also allowed to operate with an increased playing list size and salary cap in its first four seasons, before these allowances were reduced to be in line with the existing AFL clubs from 2015 as planned.[5]

The maximum playing list size of each AFL club is 47 players, consisting of 38–40 senior-listed players and the remainder as rookie-listed players.[7][nb 3] Rookie players receive a reduced salary in comparison to senior-listed players, and are not necessarily automatically eligible for selection in games.[9] As every club is required to make a minimum of three changes to its list at the end of each season,[10] not every player necessarily makes a senior appearance for the club before being removed from the playing list.

Since its first competitive appearance, 112 players have represented the club in an AFL premiership match.[11] The premiership competition is inclusive of home-and-away and finals series matches only, and does not include pre-season matches or representative games (such as State of Origin or International rules football).[12] As of the conclusion of the 2018 season, the player with the highest individual games tally for Gold Coast is Jarrod Harbrow, who has played 220 matches for the club since 2011.[11] Tom Lynch has scored the most goals for the club, attaining 254 goals in his 131 matches.[13]

  1. ^ "AFL star Gary Ablett steps down from Gold Coast Suns captaincy". Guardian Australia. Guardian Media Group. AAP. 29 November 2016. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Gold Coast gets AFL licence". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  3. ^ Davis, Greg (1 April 2011). "Karmichael Hunt, David Swallow headline debutants in Gold Coast Suns' first AFL match against Carlton". The Courier-Mail. News Limited. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. ^ "2011 AFL fixture". The Age. Melbourne: Fairfax Media. 29 October 2010. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "Gold Coast's draft rules explained". AFL.com.au. BigPond. 15 May 2009. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  6. ^ Twomey, Callum (8 July 2014). "Minimum draft age will stay at 18 for now". AFL.com.au. AFL Media. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  7. ^ "Collective Bargaining Agreement 2017 – 2022" (PDF). aflplayers.com.au. Australian Football League & AFL Players Association. 2017. pp. 17–19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  8. ^ McGarry, Andrew (7 October 2014). "The AFL's trading and free agency period is under way – how does it work?". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  9. ^ Elliott, Josh (20 June 2017). "Everything you need to know about the AFL's new CBA". The Roar. Conversant Media. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  10. ^ Rucci, Michelangelo (30 October 2016). "Cam O'Shea is looking for a new club after announcing his time at Port Adelaide is over". The Advertiser. Adelaide: News Corp Australia. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  11. ^ a b "Gold Coast – All Time Player List". AFL Tables. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  12. ^ "Regulations" (PDF). AFL.com.au. Australian Football League. February 2015. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Tom Lynch". AFL Tables. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.


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