Caroline Wilson left 'staggered' by Suns backlash over Stuart Dew report

AFL reporter Caroline Wilson has discussed how she was left 'staggered' at the fierce backlash she received after reporting that the Gold Coast Suns were on the precipice of sacking head coach Stuart Dew - a report that turned out to be completely on the money. A range of Suns figures, including Dew himself, denounced the comments she made on Footy Classified earlier in July, only for them to come to fruition a week later.

Wilson had reported relations between Dew and various club figures, including CEO Mark Evans and head of football Wayne Campbell, had become strained, ultimately declaring Dew's days were numbered at the club, where he took over as coach in 2018. Despite leading the Suns to their best record (10-10) in 2022, the club still finished just 12th, again failing to make a debut finals appearance.

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Things haven't been much better in 2023, with the Suns currently 14th on the ladder with a 7-9 record ahead of their clash with St Kilda this weekend. Former Geelong and St Kilda ruckman Steven King has taken over as interim coach.

In a conversation on SEN podcast Don't Shoot the Messenger, Wilson said she had been taken aback by how fiercely the Suns pushed back on her report, but also believed the club's defence of Dew fell somewhat flat - keeping her confidence in her reporting high. Dew accused Wilson of repeatedly targeting him in the days after her comments, while Suns CEO Evans said the club 'had a coach' and wouldn't be buying into speculation about Dew's future - which ultimately turned out to be short-lived.

“I was predicting that he would be gone by the end of the year, and potentially, I felt by the end of the month that he’d be replaced in an intermediate fashion by Steven King. I also believed that Damien Hardwick would replace him," Wilson said.

“There was a bit of a backlash, huge backlash really, led by Stuart Dew I have to say, which just staggered me at the time. It’s really awful what’s happened to him, but you know, that’s our job.

"You’ve got to report these things if you get a story. It just astounded me that he was so blindsided by it.”

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Wilson added that the far from convincing defence of Dew gave her some pause for thought, pondering whether her report would lead to Dew's departure at the end of the season rather than in the middle of it, however she remained confident throughout that the basis of her comments, that the relationship between Dew and senior Suns figures had become untenable, was on the money. She was vindicated last week when the 43-year-old was unceremoniously dumped.

The Suns are now expected to throw the kitchen sink at recruiting former Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick, who made the surprise decision to walk away from the Tigers earlier this season. Several AFL commentators have called on the Suns to hire someone who can drive a cultural shift at the club, with their finals chances all but gone for 2023.

“Putting the story aside for a moment, obviously you’re not nervous after you go with something like that, because I was so certain I was right,” Wilson said. “But I did wonder whether they might put off the decision until the end of the year because of what I’d said and because they’d sort of done that press conference and said he was contracted.

“But nothing they said in that press conference really made me think that they were denying what I’d said. There was so much disharmony.

"I mean, the CEO and Stuart were not getting on. The head of football (Wayne Campbell) and Stuart hadn’t fallen out, but their relationship was strained.”

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