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He's well aware it's only one AFL pre-season game but Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew believes Saturday's 68-point win over Geelong is a template to follow in 2020.
It may not always produce such a good result, but Saturday's pre-season win over Geelong is exactly the football Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew wants from his AFL team.
The Suns blew away a disappointing Cats outfit with a high-pressure, high-speed gameplan that led to a comprehensive 17.20 (122) to 7.12 (54) win at Metricon Stadium.
The positives were plenty for Dew.
Goalsneak Alex Sexton booted six goals while experienced recruits Hugh Greenwood and Brandon Ellis both had impressive first outings for their new clubs.
Draftees Noah Anderson, Connor Budarick and Jeremy Sharp all got goals while Matthew Rowell was busy with 20 disposals as he continues to push for a round one AFL debut.
Dew is realistic enough to know the situations will be very different when the two teams meet at GMHBA Stadium in round two next month but also believes the display shows his team is in a good place heading into the 2020 campaign.
"Where we are as a club and how we want to play football, we want to play an exciting brand of footy," Dew said.
"We understand we're a developing side but that doesn't mean we can't compete and win games of footy.
"Practice game is gold for us. We play each other all summer against ourselves and it's just not the same ... Geelong are a seasoned team and we know when we play them round two it's going to be a different game but certainly for our guys we particularly concentrated on what we wanted to do and how we've been training."
The Suns' final pre-season fixture will be a trip to Adelaide to face the Crows on March 6.
Exciting prospect Izak Rankine may feature after being left out against the Cats due to receiving a knock on his shoulder in last weekend's practice game against Brisbane.
Co-captain Jarrod Witts will not take on the Crows however, with Dew saying the ruckman's recovery from a broken bone in his foot will prevent him featuring.
