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AFL's Suns to review off-field structure

3 minute read

Gold Coast football boss Jon Haines has followed assistant coach Josh Francou out the door, with senior coach Stuart Dew under pressure after a tough season.

JOSH FRANCOU.
JOSH FRANCOU. Picture: Mark Dadswell/Getty Images

AFL club Gold Coast will review their football department structure after parting ways football operations boss Jon Haines.

Haines is the second key figure to depart after assistant coach Josh Francou announced in June he would leave the Suns at the end of the season to relocate to Adelaide.

Senior coach Stuart Dew is also under pressure amid speculation linking former Hawthorn mastermind Alastair Clarkson to the Suns.

Dew, who played under Clarkson in the Hawks' 2008 premiership team, is contracted for 2022 but has a lowly 23.5 per cent winning ratio after four seasons in the role.

It comes on the back of a disappointing end to the 2021 season, which saw the Suns finish 16th with a 7-15 record.

Losses in five of their last six matches by an average margin of 63 points confirmed the club's 10th bottom-five finish in 11 seasons since inception.

Gold Coast on Friday confirmed list and talent boss Craig Cameron will lead the football department on an interim basis, with Haines to return to Western Australia after four years in Queensland.

"My family and I have been privileged to have the opportunity to play a role in the build of the Gold Coast Suns," Haines said.

"The culture, the program and the list are in outstanding shape and the football program now has strong foundations from which to move into its next phase.

"The players and staff at the Suns are its biggest strength and greatest competitive advantage.

"The quality of people and their depth of connection is as good as I have experienced.

"The football program is incredibly well led across each discipline and I'm proud of how the culture has developed and the people involved in establishing it."

Gold Coast players and staff are due to complete two weeks of home quarantine on Saturday, having returned to Queensland from Victoria after their 87-point defeat to Sydney in round 23.

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