2025 Gold Coast Suns season

Gold Coast Suns

2025 AFL season
Coach	Damien Hardwick (2nd season)
Captains	Noah Anderson (1st season)
Home ground	People First Stadium
Practice Match	Lost by 21 points
Highest home attendance	18,034
Lowest home attendance	16,211
Average home attendance	17,123

The 2025 Gold Coast Suns season is Gold Coast's 15th season competing in the Australian Football League (AFL) and 17th overall. Gold Coast continues to field an AFL reserves team in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Academy teams in the Talent League Boys and Talent League Girls competitions. Gold Coast will also field a women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition.

Club news

Ben Long and Joel Jeffrey were selected in the Indigenous All-Stars squad for the preseason exhibition match against Fremantle. ^[1]

AFL team

Season summary

It is the club's 2nd AFL season under senior coach Damien Hardwick, with Noah Anderson appointed as the new club captain. ^[2]

The club was due to host the opening round match at People First Stadium against Essendon, but the match was postponed on 4 March due to the impact of Severe Tropical Cyclone Alfred on the South East Queensland region. ^{[3] [4]} On 6 March, the AFL announced that the match would be included during round 24 of the season. ^{[5] [6]}

In their round 2 match against West Coast at Optus Stadium, the Suns recorded their biggest win in club history, defeating their opponents by 87 points. ^[7]

Pre-season

In an unofficial match simulation, Gold Coast defeated Collingwood by 18 points, and Brisbane Lions by 10 points at People First Stadium. ^[8] Sydney defeated Gold Coast in the official AFL practice match by 21 points. The game was played at People First Stadium ^[9]

Coaching staff

Damien Hardwick continued as the club's men's senior coach for the 2nd season. ^[10]

2025 Gold Coast coaching staff ^[11]

Role	Name
Senior Coach	Damien Hardwick
Assistant Coach	Shaun Grigg
Assistant Coach	Josh Drummond
Assistant Coach - Forward	Brad Miller
Head of Development	Tate Kaesler
Development Coach	Nick Malceski
Development Coach	Richard Douglas
Head of Development	Hugh Greenwood

2025 playing squad

Gold Coast Suns 2025 playing squad

Senior list								Coaching staff
1 Mac Andrew  2 John Noble  3 Sam Flanders  4 Jed Walter  5 Alex Davies  6 Alex Sexton  7 Nick Holman  8 Brayden Fiorini  9 Ben Ainsworth 10 Charlie Ballard 11 Touk Miller (vc) 12 Elliott Himmelberg 14 Lachie Weller 15 Noah Anderson (c) 16 Tom Berry 17 Daniel Rioli 18 Matt Rowell 19 Bailey Humphrey 20 Ethan Read 21 Ned Moyle 22 Ben Long		23 Sean Lemmens 24 David Swallow 25 Sam Collins (vc) 26 Will Graham 27 Wil Powell 28 Jarrod Witts 29 Jake Rogers 30 Leo Lombard 31 Cooper Bell 32 Bodhi Uwland 33 Sam Clohesy 34 Ben King 35 Connor Budarick 36 Zak Evans 37 Max Knobel 38 Lloyd Johnston 39 Lachlan Gulbin 40 Joel Jeffrey 41 Malcolm Rosas Jr 42 Asher Eastham 44 Ben Jepson 46 Caleb Graham 50 Jy Farrar						Head coach Damien Hardwick Assistant coaches Shaun Grigg Josh Drummond Brad Miller (Forward) Tate Kaesler (VFL Head Coach/Head of Development) Nick Malceski (Development Coach) Richard Douglas (Development Coach) Hugh Greenwood (Development Coach) Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) (B) Category B rookie italics - Inactive player list Long-term injury (ret.) Retired Updated: Source(s): ,

Changes

Deletions from playing list ^[12]

Player	Reason
Rory Atkins	Trade to Port Adelaide
Sandy Brook	Delisted
Levi Casboult	Retired
Sam Day	Delisted
Brandon Ellis	Retired
Oskar Faulkhead	Delisted
Jack Lukosius	Trade to Port Adelaide
Darcy Macpherson	Delisted
Jack Mahony	Delisted
Hewago Oea	Delisted
Will Rowlands	Delisted
James Tsitas	Delisted

Additions to playing list ^[12]

Player	Reason
Cooper Bell	No 49, 2024 National Draft
Asher Eastham	Rookie Draft
Zak Evans	Category B Rookie
Lachlan Gulbin	Category B Rookie
Elliott Himmelberg	Free agent from Adelaide
Ben Jepson	Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period
Max Knobel	Rookie Draft
Leo Lombard	No 9, 2024 National Draft, Academy
John Noble	Trade from Collingwood
Daniel Rioli	Trade from Richmond

Results

Keys

H	Home game
A	Away game
N	Neutral venue game

Table of 2025 AFL Season Results ^[13]

Round	Date	Result	Score			Opponent	Score			Ground		Attendance	Ladder
			G	B	T		G	B	T
OR	Match vs Essendon postponed to a later date [14]												11th
1	16 March	Won	20	16	136	West Coast	7	7	49	Optus Stadium	A	46,532	3rd
2	Bye												6th
3	29 March	Won	18	12	120	Melbourne	8	14	62	MCG	A	24,506	4th
4	5 April	Won	13	13	91	Adelaide	14	6	90	People First Stadium	H	16,211	3rd
5	12 April	Won	21	15	141	North Melbourne	13	11	89	Barossa Park	N	9,317	2nd
6	19 April	Lost	9	15	69	Richmond	12	8	80	Marvel Stadium	A	18,423	3rd
7	27 April	Won	17	15	117	Sydney	12	7	79	Heritage Bank Stadium	H	18,034	3rd
8	4 May	Lost	7	7	49	Brisbane Lions	9	12	66	Gabba	A	33,612	4th
9	10 May	Won	15	16	106	Western Bulldogs	14	12	96	TIO Stadium	N	9,816	4th
10	15 May	Won	16	8	104	Hawthorn	15	6	96	TIO Stadium	N	12,314	3rd
11	25 May	Won	12	8	80	St Kilda	8	13	61	Marvel Stadium	A	13,486	3rd
12	31 May	Lost	9	10	64	Fremantle	11	9	75	People First Stadium	H	11,750	4th
13	7 June	Lost	5	7	37	Geelong	9	7	61	GMHBA Stadium	A	29,502	5th
14	Bye												6th
15	22 June	Lost	14	15	99	Greater Western Sydney	16	10	106	ENGIE Stadium	A	10,504	9th
16	28 June	Won	15	14	104	Melbourne	12	13	85	People First Stadium	H	13,064	8th
17	5 July	Won	18	7	115	Essendon	11	8	74	Marvel Stadium	A	29,672	7th
18	11 July	Won	10	9	69	Collingwood	8	15	63	People First Stadium	H	22,831	5th
19	20 July	Lost	6	10	46	Adelaide	16	11	107	Adelaide Oval	A	44,249	8th
20	26 July	Won	20	10	130	Brisbane Lions	9	10	64	People First Stadium	H	20,833	8th
21	2 August	Won	16	11	107	Richmond	2	11	23	People First Stadium	H	14,841	6th
22	9 August	Won	13	15	93	Carlton	11	6	74	Marvel Stadium	A	24,120	6th
23	16 August	Lost	11	10	76	Greater Western Sydney	17	9	111	People First Stadium	H	16,007	9th
24	22 August	Lost	9	13	67	Port Adelaide	10	11	71	Adelaide Oval	A	40,897	9th
24 (OR)	27 August	Won	23	15	153	Essendon [14]	8	10	58	People First Stadium	H	40,897	7th

Ladder

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	Adelaide	23	18	5	0	2278	1635	139.3	72	Finals series
2	Geelong	23	17	6	0	2425	1714	141.5	68
3	Brisbane Lions (P)	23	16	6	1	2061	1804	114.2	66
4	Collingwood	23	16	7	0	1991	1627	122.4	64
5	Greater Western Sydney	23	16	7	0	2114	1834	115.3	64
6	Fremantle	23	16	7	0	1978	1815	109.0	64
7	Gold Coast	23	15	8	0	2173	1740	124.9	60
8	Hawthorn	23	15	8	0	2045	1691	120.9	60
9	Western Bulldogs	23	14	9	0	2493	1820	137.0	56
10	Sydney	23	12	11	0	1845	1902	97.0	48
11	Carlton	23	9	14	0	1799	1861	96.7	36
12	St Kilda	23	9	14	0	1839	2077	88.5	36
13	Port Adelaide	23	9	14	0	1705	2136	79.8	36
14	Melbourne	23	7	16	0	1902	2038	93.3	28
15	Essendon	23	6	17	0	1535	2209	69.5	24
16	North Melbourne	23	5	17	1	1805	2365	76.3	22
17	Richmond	23	5	18	0	1449	2197	66.0	20
18	West Coast	23	1	22	0	1466	2438	60.1	4

Source: afl.com.au
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for
(P) Premiers

VFL team

Gold Coast Suns

2025 VFL season
Coach	Tate Kaesler
Captain	James Tsitas
Home ground	People First Stadium

Season summary

Tate Kaesler continues as coach of the club's VFL program, with James Tsitas appointed as captain. ^[15]

In March, captain James Tsitas was selected in the initial 43-player squad for the VFL State Team to play the SANFL State Team in April. ^[15]

Results

Keys

H	Home game
A	Away game
N	Neutral venue game

Table of 2025 VFL Season Results ^[16]

Round	Date	Result	Score			Opponent	Score			Ground		Ladder
			G	B	T		G	B	T
1	Bye											20th
2	29 March	Lost	13	10	88	Casey	13	12	90	Casey Fields	A	14th
3	5 April	Won	25	14	164	Northern Bullants	5	9	39	People First Stadium	H	10th
4	19 April	Lost	8	8	56	Southport	16	15	111	Fankhauser Reserve	A	13th
5	27 April	Won	14	9	93	Sydney	6	10	46	People First Stadium	H	11th
6	4 May	Lost	14	9	93	Brisbane Lions	14	11	95	Brighton Homes Arena	A	13th
7	Bye
8	17 May					Box Hill				People First Stadium	H
9	25 May					Sandringham				RSEA Park	A
10	31 May					Coburg				People First Stadium	H
11	8 June					Geelong				GMHBA Stadium	A
12	Bye
13	22 June					Greater Western Sydney				Blacktown ISP Oval	A
14	TBC					Casey				TBC	H
15	TBC					Essendon				TBC	A
16	TBC					Collingwood				TBC	H
17	TBC					Port Melbourne				TBC	A
18	TBC					Brisbane Lions				TBC	H
19	TBC					Richmond				TBC	H
20	TBC					Carlton				TBC	A
21	TBC					Greater Western Sydney				TBC	H

Ladder

Further information: 2025 VFL season

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
12	Geelong (R)	18	9	9	0	1472	1466	100.4	36
13	Carlton (R)	18	8	10	0	1387	1586	87.5	32
14	Gold Coast (R)	18	7	10	1	1466	1493	98.2	30
15	North Melbourne (R)	18	7	10	1	1500	1528	98.2	30
16	Werribee	18	7	11	0	1325	1378	96.2	28

Source: ^[17]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for
(R) Club is the reserves team of a senior club of the Australian Football League

AFL Women's team

Gold Coast Suns

2025 AFL Women's season
Coach	Rhyce Shaw (1st season)
Captains	Niamh McLaughlin & Lucy Single
Home ground	People First Stadium

Season summary

After the sacking of Cam Joyce at the end of the previous season, the Suns announced Rhyce Shaw to begin his first season as head coach. ^{[18] [19]}

Coaching staff

Rhyce Shaw will begin his first season as head coach of the AFLW program.

2025 Gold Coast Suns coaching staff

Role	Name
Senior coach	Rhyce Shaw
Senior Assistant coach	Sam Iles
Assistant coach	Rory Thompson

Results

Fixture yet to be released

References

1. "Long & Jeffrey to represent Indigenous All Stars". Gold Coast Suns. 3 February 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
2. "Noah Anderson to lead the Gold Coast SUNS". Gold Coast Suns. 7 February 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
3. Valencich, Glenn (4 March 2025). "AFL calls off Brisbane-Geelong and Gold Coast-Essendon as Tropical Cyclone Alfred forecast worsens". 7news.com.au. Seven West Media. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
4. "Cyclone Alfred forces AFL to postpone both Queensland Opening Round games". sen.com.au. Sports Entertainment Network. 4 March 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
5. "Fixture Update: Suns V Bombers". Gold Coast Suns. 6 March 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
6. Sutton, Ben (7 March 2025). "AFL announce new fixture for Brisbane-Geelong and Gold Coast-Essendon matches". 7news.com.au. Seven West Media. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
7. "Gold Coast Suns record biggest win in club history against West Coast, GWS breaks Melbourne hearts late". abc.net.au. ABC NEWS Australia. 16 March 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
8. "SUNS perform strongly in trial against Lions and Magpies". Gold Coast Suns. 20 February 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
9. "AFL practice matches 2025: Results, scores for pre-season Community Series". The Sporting News. 3 March 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
10. "Damien Hardwick joins Gold Coast Suns as head coach on six-year deal". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 21 August 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
11. "AFL Coaches". goldcoastfc.com.au. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
12. "INS AND OUTS: Every club's final list changes for 2025 season". afl.com.au. 2 March 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
13. "AFL Fixtures and Results". afl.com.au. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
14. "Both Qld games postponed due to tropical cyclone". afl.com.au. 4 March 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
15. "Tsitas named in VFL State Team squad". Gold Coast Suns. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
16. "VFL Fixtures and Results". afl.com.au. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
17. "2025 VFL ladder". AFL.com.au. Archived from the original on 21 September 2025. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
18. "SUNS 2025 AFLW Coaching Panel taking shape". Gold Coast Suns. 25 February 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
19. "Suns sack AFLW coach Joyce after missing finals". afl.com.au. 2 December 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2025.