Gold Coast Suns captain wants Ugle-Hagan to rediscover ‘love of football’

The measured approach reflects a wider shift on the Gold Coast. After years of chasing reliability, the Suns now find themselves faced with something unfamiliar: expectation.

“Expectations are high from the outside and they’re high from the inside,” Anderson said.

“It’s a new experience for me as captain and for our group to see this from the outside. We learned some really good lessons towards the end of last year about dealing with that pressure.”

Gold Coast’s breakthrough final appearance transformed the club’s domestic standards, but Anderson said the focus had already gone beyond symbolic progress.

“The expectation of the group is that we continue to improve,” he said.

“We want to go longer at the end of the year, play deeper in finals and eventually reach the biggest stage. But we understand there is still a lot to improve in our game before we get there.”

While many Suns players received individual recognition last season, Anderson said individual accolades are irrelevant to what the group is after.

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“I’m not looking for individual accolades, and I don’t think Matt Rowell is either,” he said.

“As captain, I want to strive for the premiership. I want our group to strive for this, too.”

“We’ve been pretty bad for a long time, and I’m very keen to have sustainable success here over a long period of time.”

For Anderson, sustainable success means building the kind of consistency shown by clubs like arch-rivals Brisbane; these teams struggle every year rather than being promoted for a short period of time.

“To consistently compete at the top and have a clear identity and football brand where teams know what they are going to get from us – that is our aim,” he said.

Confidence within the club has been strengthened by key roster additions including star player Christian Petracca, whose arrival Anderson says has transformed belief levels within the playing group.

“It was a great experience to bring in someone at this level,” he said.

“He is a fantastic player with a fantastic career and the fact that he wants to join the club is huge for us.

“That helped the group believe that we could really compete with the best. Last year we showed signs of beating really good teams in big games.”

After several seasons narrowly missing the finals, Anderson believes last year’s breakthrough has removed the psychological barrier that persisted within the group.

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“I always felt like we were close — probably closer than people think — which was extremely frustrating,” he said.

“Last year it was important to overcome this hurdle, play in the finals and experience that. Now our expectation is to progress from there.”

While optimism for the Suns continues to grow, Anderson said the club’s current focus remains constant, which starts with making sure players like Ugle-Hagan feel supported enough to thrive again.

“Once the love for football emerges, everything else can follow,” he said.

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