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FIFA World Cup guideCornes: Hardwick needs to take responsibility for subpar Suns
SEN • June 15th, 2026 10:18 am
Damien Hardwick should stop pointing the finger and making excuses for Gold Coast’s subpar performances in 2026.
The Suns, who many tipped to contend this year, lost a third game on the trot when beaten by Geelong by 45 points on Friday night.
Hardwick was unhappy with the result but in particular the umpiring as he felt the Cats were the recipients of some questionable free kicks which led to goals.
He said post-match: "It was like the Roman Colosseum.
"I reckon they (the umpires) were waiting for the crowd to do this one (thumb down) then, all of a sudden, free kick.
"At the end of the day it is what it is, home-ground advantage, we understand that, we know you're up against it from the start, but a couple of them weren't there."
With the highly-fancied Suns sitting ninth with a 7-6 record, SEN’s Kane Cornes just wonders if the constant complaining from Dimma is trickling into his playing group.
It feels like almost every week the three-time premiership coach has something to say and Cornes reckons it might be having a negative effect.
“I think it’s a little bit alarming,” Cornes said of Gold Coast’s form on SEN’s Fireball.
“I just wonder whether the actions of the coach are now starting to reflect the group. He sooks a lot.
“If you could play the greatest hits of Damien Hardwick and all the times he’s complained. I don’t know if it’s a great example for the rest of your players.
“He was at it again on Friday night. Look, I think he had some merit for his complaining because some of the umpiring was bordering on disgraceful.”
David King didn’t think what Hardwick said was too bad.
King said: “I don’t think Damien was disrespectful to anyone in particular. He didn’t eyeball one decision or one umpire. I thought it was ok.”
And neither did Cornes, in isolation, but does he feel there’s some whinging from Hardwick most weeks.
“That’s fine, but if it’s something every week…," he continued.
“That one (complaint) I think he had cause to be frustrated because there were a couple of free kicks to Jeremy Cameron and others that ended up in goals.
“But if it’s, ‘Mate, we hate coming to Marvel’, or, ‘We don’t want to play in Alice Springs’, or, ‘We don’t want to do that if’, it’s every single week…
“In isolation there’s nothing big about it, but when it’s like, ‘Ohh, he’s whinging again’, then the players go, ‘We’ve got to train at 6 o’clock, I don’t want to do this’, then it sort of infiltrates the group.
“I’m just speculating as to what has gone wrong with this group. I think Damien needs to take a fair amount of responsibility for their performance this year which has been the performance of the most disappointing team of anyone.”
The Suns will be desperate to arrest their losing run when they host Hawthorn at People First Stadium on Friday night.
