MOREE SUNS
Coach: Eric Faulkner
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2019 regular season finish: Sixth
Finals finish: Missed finals
Club best and fairest: Jack Montgomery
Top goalscorer: Adrian Smith (10 goals)
Q and A with coach Eric Faulkner
How would you rate your season out of 10?
8/10.
We had a lot of issues this year that were out of the players' control. The core group stuck together almost to the end with a lot of individuals trying their best to force the group apart. There are some strong culture foundations in place that will hopefully support the club moving forward.
We improved all over the ground when playing and never gave up, which was a commitment we made to each other during pre-season. We had 10 players make a commitment to play duel codes with all Group 19 games meant to be on Sundays and when the league was changed to mainly Saturday post draw release it was always going to be an uphill battle.
In your opinion, who were your top three players in 2019?
Suns best three are hard to split. Jack Montgomery (a 16-year-old who played two games every week), Simon Hall (first year of Aussie rules) and Matt Lather/Adrian Smith/Danny Brown.
LISTEN BACK TO THE ONE PERCENTERS PODCAST
What was the highlight of 2019?
I think the grand final, the right two teams made it. Being on the bottom of the ladder and when playing both the grand final sides throughout the year, they were the only sides that kept their structure and played as a team with no individuals even when winning by a huge margin.
Where does the team need to improve heading into 2020?
Commitment to the club and game. I think 2021 will be the year of the Suns (one more year of juniors for our young guys will really galvanise a core group of 15 seniors topping up the current committed seven or eight 2019 players).
Will you be coaching again next year?
No (I was only able to commit to the one year), there was a succession plan for 2020 with an assistant coach from 2019. However, that will depend on the 2020 committee I believe.
RESULTS
R1: lost to Inverell by 95 points
R2: Bye
R3: lost to the Kangaroos by 35 points
R4: lost to Gunnedah by 77 points
R5: Bye
R6: lost to the Swans by 84 points
R7: lost to New England by 82 points
R8: lost to Inverell by 179 points
R9: lost to the Kangaroos by 74 points
R10: Bye
R11: lost to Gunnedah by 120 points
R12: Bye
R13: lost to the Swans by 73 points
R14: lost to New England by 208 points