Stuart Dew sacked: Inside the Gold Coast board meeting which decided coach’s fate
An explosive meeting of the Gold Coast board took place on Monday night as a direct result of the decision to immediately terminate Stuart Dew's coaching contract. Read how it all played out.
Some members of the Gold Coast Suns Board of Directors felt uneasy about the decision to terminate Stuart Dew's coaching contract overnight.
With a year left on his contract, the board met on Monday night and unanimously decided to fire Dew. On Tuesday, Gold Coast chairman Bob East told the media that the decision to fire Dew was "unanimous." This comes with seven games left in the regular season.
According to the masthead, the board meeting on Monday night was particularly heated because not all of the members were on board with the decision. Some fans were relieved that a choice had been made, but others would have preferred to see it play out until the season was over.
The decision to quickly sever ties was made, and Steven King was named temporary coach for the rest of the 2023 campaign.
East claimed it would have been "disingenuous" to keep Dew on as coach after the board opted not to do so in 2024.
"Once you make a decision, I do believe that it cuts to the culture of a business," the Suns chairman stated.
"Honesty is required in every workplace, but especially in a high-performance company. The club's leaders must implement the decision once it has been made.
According to sources, Dew's ties to the club's upper management had frayed in recent weeks.
It wasn't so much a matter of victories and losses as of an inability to stop the bleeding when opponents went on scoring streaks.
On Saturday night, the Suns lost by 33 points against the Port Adelaide Power because they allowed nine goals to the Power in the third quarter.
A week prior, Collingwood took a 10-goal lead into halftime at Heritage Bank Stadium, while the Suns' 59-point loss to Carlton was largely attributable to a nine-goals-to-nil second quarter.
Because of that incident, the board became convinced that Dew was not the right person to steer the club into the future.
To make the playoffs this year, Gold Coast needs to win six of its remaining seven games.
After 13 seasons in the AFL, the club still hasn't made the playoffs.
Evans said the team's lack of improvement since 2022 was evident in their performance this year.
"This time last year we were better placed in wins and particularly in percentage," he said, "so it feels like there is a gap between us and the best in the competition."
After the vote to fire Dew was finalised, the board met to examine potential new coaches.
One of the names that came up was Damien Hardwick. Evans insists that neither the club nor Hardwick nor his representatives have been contacted. The CEO has been tasked by the board with delivering a plan to interview and hire the club's next senior coach.
Conclusion
The sacking of Stuart Dew as the head coach of the Gold Coast Suns has left an indelible mark on the AFL landscape. The board meeting that decided his fate was a culmination of careful evaluation, weighing the team's performance, player feedback, financial considerations, and long-term goals. As the Suns embark on the search for a new coach, the decision-makers hope to steer the club toward a brighter future, reinvigorating the team and reigniting the passion of their loyal supporters.