Cats left licking their wounds after the red-hot Suns flex their muscles in prime time

The 30-year-old kicked three goals to go with 34 possessions in an exhilarating display that will have him dreaming of finally reaching the MCG on the last Saturday in September.

Christian Petracca celebrates a goal with Mac Andrew.AFL Photos

It was a statement after many years of unwanted headlines, and an unfair perception that football was not his priority.

The numbers only told part of the story. It was his powerful exit from stoppages that reminded everyone Petracca is still a force.

At the Suns, who were without Brownlow medallist Matt Rowell, he has plenty of teammates who can go with him when he is frightening the opposition.

On this occasion it was power forward Bailey Humphrey, someone who had actually flirted with the idea of joining Melbourne in the off-season despite being contracted and nowhere near being placed on the trade table.

Bailey Humphrey made a fast start for Gold Coast.AFL Photos

Humphrey marked a bullet pass from Wil Powell from the opening bounce and kicked a goal. Midway through the quarter he had kicked three goals from his first three kicks.

By then Geelong, who were missing Patrick Dangerfield, Jeremy Cameron and Jack Bowes, were out of the contest.

They had started the centre bounce with Mark O’Connor and Tom Atkins matched up on Noah Anderson and Petracca.

They had Mitch Knevitt playing as a key target inside 50 alongside Shannon Neale and Tanner Bruhn playing his first game for a year.

In humid conditions, they never looked likely, mishandling the ball and struggling to find their breath early in the year. They were making defensive errors and the Suns pounced on forward half turnovers to kick goals.

In the third quarter Geelong’s game unravelled in a fashion rarely seen when the hoops play as the Suns ran through the centre free of pressure and in waves. Gold Coast kicked seven goals to start the third quarter and stretched the lead at one point to 85 points.

They were no match. Petracca was in a mood. Humphrey kicked his fourth goal and their teammates joined the party with Ben King finding his radar to kick four goals.

Leo Lombard showed why he was such a high pick at times, and Zeke Uhland was excellent in his first game until Oliver Dempsey got on the end of a few forward forays and kicked goals.

He led a fightback on the scoreboard from the Cats who, to their credit, did not give up and cut the margin back to 56 points with Max Holmes, Bruhn, Atkins and Connor O’Sullivan their best performers.

But it was Petracca’s night as the Suns showed a capacity to scorch opponents as they enter a golden era.

“I am pumped. It was awesome,” Petracca told Seven post-game. “I have gone through a lot in the last 16 months. I knew I would get back to the player I was… I know adversity is a privilege.”

Gold Coast had Jake Rogers, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Dylan Patterson and Charlie Ballard playing in the VFL today while Matt Rowell was out injured. They are a scary proposition.

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12.47am on Mar 7, 2026

Farewell from Friday night footy

That’s all we have for you tonight, with the Suns making a massive statement in their big win over last year’s beaten grand finalists, the Cats.

We’ll be back tomorrow for the double-header: the Giants and Hawks in the afternoon before the Lions do battle with the Bulldogs.

We hope you join us then.

12.44am on Mar 7, 2026

The final stats from the Suns’ big win

Gold Coast: 7.1, 11.5, 18.8, 19.11 (125)
Geelong: 2.2, 4.5, 5.7, 10.9 (69)

11.22pm on Mar 6, 2026

‘An amazing feeling’: Petracca rapt with Suns debut

Q: Could you have dreamt that your debut match for the Gold Coast suns would go the way it has tonight?

Christian Petracca: I didn’t think we’d play in the way we did. Obviously, we dream of that and hope we do, and do all the prep for that, but to come out and put a four-quarter [effort together]... probably three and a half, to be honest... it was awesome. It was an amazing feeling.

Q: Tonight was the best rating in your career, Christian – even above the 2021 grand final. So did it feel like that? You were in the zone tonight

CP: I feel like I play my best when I’m, you know, I’m just my defensive contest, you know, all the other stuff, and the offence will take care of itself. As long as I’m around the ball hunting and putting that pressure on... I know that the rest will take care of itself. So I’m just super grateful to be, to be at this footy club, and, you know, to be back playing when I’m doing what I love.

Q: I want to talk about your chemistry with Bailey Humphrey, particularly in the first half. You two just seemed to know where each other were most of the time. He talked about you in glowing terms and the impact you’ve had. So, can you talk us through the chemistry you’ve got together, you two?

Damien Hardwick addresses his troops.AFL Photos

CP: Hump is just such an incredible person on the field – you see what he does, he’s just so powerful and explosive, and a bit off the field, he’s just such an amazing human and someone that I’ve loved to connect with and reminds me of myself, you know – [he] puts a lot of pressure on himself when it’s only his fourth year, which is pretty remarkable.

The growth he’s had from last year, fourth in the best and fairest, and obviously now to kick four in the first game. That chemistry is awesome. I think it’s something we’re constantly building, not just myself and Bailey, but, you know, there’s a lot of guys... so it’s great that we’ve got a lot of depth in there, and we can obviously be versatile.

Q: You speak about chemistry, you’ve roved under one of the greatest ruckmen ever to play the game. Jarrod Witts seems like he gave you some really good service tonight, which means you can get on the move with confidence...

CP: It helps when you’ve got guys like Noah [Anderson], who sacrificed a lot about their own game. I think he was getting tagged by [Mark] O’Connor in the first half, and, you know, moved himself into positions where there was a bit more space for the front. Obviously Alex Davies is someone who, you know... his inside stuff is awesome.

So we’re able to get out a little bit. And, you know, midfielders are unbelievable. [Tom] Atkins, he’s just an unbelievable player. He’s so underrated, and we knew that their contest was their strength, so we had to match him in there.

Q: You’re a player that’s really diligent. You go to work on your weaknesses, and some of the criticism over the past has been your kicking. It looked like tonight you didn’t try and over-kick the ball, but your skill level, especially by foot, was at an elite level. You put in some work on that, that particular part of your game?

CP: Yeah, I almost put in too much, to be honest. I’m out there on my day off, kicking at the rugby field – there’s no AFL fields up here. It’s all rugby pitches. I’m all I’m out there kicking set shots every bloody day. And so it’s frustrating when they don’t go in. But I think I spoke to you last year about, for me, the biggest thing is kicking. You know, I’m not trying to blast the hell out of it, just being simple with it, letting my power do it when I’m kicking it 80 per cent, 75 per cent – that’s when I’m kicking my best.

So I understand that’s probably part of my game that, you know, is probably... not as strong as my other things. But I guess that’s what wakes me up in the morning and tries to get me better each day. It’s focusing on those weaknesses and trying to make them better.

Q: Trac, your coach [Hardwick]... just give us your observations of him, what you’ve seen in the first two or three months at the club...

CP: Dimma speaks for himself. His accolades, he’s just an incredible, incredible coach, and off the field, he’s such a great connector with his relationships and ability to get the best out of every everyone at the footy club, not just players, but staff as well.

Also, Shaun Grigg is someone who I’ve connected really closely with as a midfield coach. He’s someone that was the Vic midfield coach as well. He, you know, he’s highly rated within the industry. [He] was the Geelong midfield coach when they won the flag. So he’s someone that, you know, I lean to as well for advice as well. So coaches – I don’t envy their role. It’s a tough role. They put a lot of pressure on themselves and a lot of pressure from the industry. But, you know, Tim has been awesome.

Q: Just one last follow up on that, just you mentioned Dusty, and to us it looked like you look like Dustin Martin out there, even though you’re a superstar in your own right. So clearly Dimma has passed on some of that in Dusty’s role in your game.

CP: Yeah, I think even before I came here, I was playing that role at Melbourne and, you know, Goody [Simon Goodwin] and the club allowed me to do that, which I’m really grateful for.

I’ve always played that mid-forward, and my ability to go, I guess, as a midfielder or a forward, and same as Bailey as well. I think we have the licence to kind of, you know... Bailey, at the moment, was playing really well as a forward, and I was playing really well as a mid. So we decided to stay.

There might be games where we’re flipping. So, as I said before... the versatility in the midfield is something that, you know, is a strength of ours, so you saw Noah get off the chain a little bit towards the end as well. He kind of went forward as well, which is good.