Dew braces for AFL home ground absence

Oct 5, 2017 - 3:53 AM As if the job wasn't tough enough for Stuart Dew, the new Gold Coast coach will have to wait up to 11 rounds to oversee a home game in his first season as an AFL head coach.

The two-time premiership player and former Sydney assistant was announced on Thursday on a three-year deal to replace the sacked Rodney Eade at the struggling Suns.

Gold Coast limped to second-last place last season and have never done better than 12th in their six campaigns.

With April's Commonwealth Games forcing the Suns out of their Metricon Stadium home base for up to the first 10 weeks of the season, it only makes things tougher for a rookie coach trying to prove himself.

But Dew is viewing it as an opportunity, not a trap.

"I wouldn't be sitting here today if I had any reservations; I'm aware that this is my opportunity and I'm rapt," he said.

The Suns had four wins from seven games at Metricon Stadium at one stage last season, before the wheels fell off and Eade was sacked with three rounds remaining.

The 38-year-old helped the Swans to a flag in 2012, but acknowledged it would be a whole new ball game next season when he sat in the big chair.

"I've obviously learned a lot from (Sydney coaches) Paul Roos and John Longmire, but I understand that I'm part of a machine and, as an assistant, you have a little bit of a fingerprint on it but you're not a leader of a club," he said.

"That's the jump and you never know until you're in the chair."

Source: AAP