Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick says he isn't surprised by the form of pressure forward Ben Long, admitting he tried to recruit him to Richmond years ago.
Hardwick has long loved "combative" players who play an uncompromising style of football, dating back to his time at the Tigers.
Long initially started his career at St Kilda but was successfully traded to the Suns ahead of the 2023 season.
"It's funny, I tried to get Ben to come to Richmond," Hardwick admitted.
"I always saw something. I love his combativeness. I always personally saw him more as a forward than a back.
"I'm not sure Ben saw himself that way, but he's been incredible. He's had a wonderful year, and our players love playing with him."
The 27-year-old's form to begin the new season is synonymous with Gold Coast's unbeaten start, playing both sides of the ball to a high level.
Long is averaging 15.9 ratings points, 2.5 goals, 12.5 disposals, 4 marks and 2.5 tackles, but more impressively, averages 13.5 pressure acts and seven score involvements, reflecting his consistent work throughout the four quarters.
"Defensively he was the number one pressure player inside 50, but also he kicks goals. Those sorts of guys you can't find," Hardwick added.
"Hard to believe I didn't play him for the first nine rounds (last year). Maybe if we did, we could've made finals, so that's on me."
Hardwick comes up against his former side at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, which follows on from clashes against West Coast and North Melbourne, the three bottom teams from last year.
Much has been made of Gold Coast's "soft draw" to begin the 2025 campaign, but Hardwick says he won't buy into the narrative, alluding to the fact that the club has played one home game in its first five starts.
"To be fair, it's probably right. The reason I signed up here is I wanted a soft draw at the start of the year to get up and going," the Suns coach quipped.
"The draw's the draw, the narrative's the narrative, we don't really care. You play who you play.
"We're five games in โฆ It all evens out. It's not as if we play the same sides every second week.
"Our draw hasn't been as easy as what people would think it is.
"Melbourne people were talking up they'd make the eight, Adelaide would make the eight, so there's two pretty good wins.
"We've played some sides in a different phase, or the same phase in North Melbourne, so you can drive whatever narrative you want, but at the end of the day, you play who you play."
