FOURTEEN years after the AFL expanded with its 17th and 18th clubs, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney will finally meet for the first time with both in the top eight.
Sunday's match at Engie Stadium pits the sixth-placed Suns against the seventh-placed Giants in a battle for the 'Expansion Cup'.
It's been more a demolition than a battle on the field over the history of the clubs, with GWS not only having significantly more success than its older rival, but making a mockery of the head-to-head battles.
The overall record is 14-5 to the Giants, but burrow down a little further and they've won 13 of the past 14 matches with their only loss coming by a solitary point in Ballarat in 2021 when the match was moved due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Have they ever been close?
Perhaps for the first time since 2014, Gold Coast could make a legitimate argument it’s as much a chance of winning a premiership as GWS (it’s also fair to suggest they play finals first before contemplating premierships).
In that year, the Giants' third in the League, the Suns were bound for September, skating along inside the top eight before Gary Ablett popped his shoulder.
That injury would not only be the end of Ablett's season, but Gold Coast's also, along with the tenure of inaugural coach Guy McKenna, who oversaw a 1-6 spiral to round out the campaign.
Following another difficult 2015 for the Queenslanders, GWS took off, being perennial finalists and often challenging for flags without ever tasting the ultimate success.
The two clubs' head-to-head match-ups have largely been fizzers.
In the shortened 2020 season, they met in round nine sitting in 10th and 12th positions, half a game each outside the top eight.
GET YOUR SEATS Buy your tickets for Giants v Suns HERE
In 2023 it was ninth against 13th when they played in round 19, with the Giants outside the eight on percentage and the Suns a game plus percentage.
Last year they were close again, with the seventh-placed Giants playing the 11th-placed Suns in round 19, sitting just a win outside Finals contention.
But never ever have they met while both have been positioned in the top eight.
The coaches
There's a few intriguing storylines heading into Sunday, with the battles in the coaches’ box between Adam Kingsley and Damien Hardwick among them.
The pair have played and coached together, achieving the ultimate success in both ventures, and remain friends.
They spent three years as teammates at Port Adelaide, winning the club's first, and to this date only, premiership in 2004.
Hardwick then hired Kingsley to be part of his coaching panel at Richmond in 2019, with the pair sharing in two Tigers flags before the latter got his job with the Giants.
There's a distinct element of Hardwick's gamestyle in the way the GWS plays – exploding off half-back, using forward handballs to attack and prioritising winning the ball back in the front half.
The pair crossed paths twice last year, resulting in 28 and 39-point wins for Kingsley and the Giants.
The players
Since coming into the AFL, both clubs have relied heavily on nurturing their own drafted talent.
While topping up with acquisitions traded in from other clubs, the draft is still the primary source for both Gold Coast and GWS and leads to some mouth-watering match-ups this weekend.
Aaron Cadman v Mac Andrew
This is a battle that we could be seeing for the next decade-plus.
Cadman, fresh off his five-goal breakout game against the premiers last Saturday, is a former No.1 draft pick and has been coming into his own over the past 12 to 18 months.
His athleticism in the air and ability to follow up at ground level make him a difficult man to match.
However, if someone of a similar age has the tools, it’s the No.5 pick from the 2021 draft in Andrew.
The rangy young Sun is in the midst of an excellent season where he has developed his ability to shutdown an opponent, while mixing in his strength of intercepting the ball.
Watching this pair go at it for four quarters is in itself worth the price of admission – or garnering your attention on a screen.
Tom Green v Matt Rowell
Taken in the same 2019 draft – Rowell with the first pick and Green with the 10th, via the Giants’ Academy – the duo are unquestionably two of the best contested ball winners in the competition.
They will battle at most centre bounces and stoppages around the ground, with the winner going a long way towards helping his team gain the four points.
Finn Callaghan v Noah Anderson
While Green and Rowell occupy most of the inside grunt work, Callaghan and Anderson love to do damage on the outside.
Both top three selections in their respective drafts, the pair have high workrates to get back and help defensively and then a willingness to explode away from trouble with speed or a quick one-two.
Callaghan has come back from a shoulder injury to be one of his team’s best players in the win over Brisbane, while Gold Coast skipper Anderson has quietly become one of the best contested ball winners in the AFL to go along with his damage on the outside.
Jack Buckley v Ben King
Although the Giants will be without Sam Taylor (toe), they have the next best thing to defend Gold Coast’s full-forward Ben King, with the ever-reliable Jack Buckley.
Initially taken by the Giants as a Category B Rookie, Buckley is one of the great development stories in the AFL, becoming one of the competition’s best key defenders since making his debut in 2020.
King is a difficult opponent though, currently fourth in the Coleman Medal race with one or two games up his sleeve on his rivals.
The Suns’ spearhead has worried his opponent into giving away 15 free kicks this season, so dangerous is his presence in the air, while Buckley has lost just eight of his 43 one-on-one contests.
Throw in Jesse Hogan against Sam Collins at the other end and there’s plenty of reasons why this contest shapes as the best version of the Expansion Cup to date.
