Why King compares 2024 Suns to Brisbane two years before famous three-peat

David King has compared Gold Coast in 2024 to Brisbane in 1999, two years before they’d go on to win back-to-back-to-back premierships under Leigh Matthews.

King’s call came as he sees similarities to Damien Hardwick’s first season in charge to Matthews, as both came to clubs in Queensland as previous premiership winners as coaches.

It’s not just the similarities in coaching though, with both sides possessing a similar glut of young talent that is no doubt scary to fathom for opposition clubs looking ahead.

King spoke about Brisbane’s quick rise under Matthews to that of Gold Coast’s trajectory under Hardwick with the Suns 7-5 through 12 games in 2024 after beating Essendon 91-80 on Sunday evening.

He went as far as to say that he expects the Suns to rise incredibly sharply once things truly click and predicted that they could also win a flag within three years of Hardwick taking charge.

“With elite level talent, they can grasp footy knowledge in a shorter space of time. If you're working with star factor players, it can happen quite quickly,” King said on SEN Whateley.

“That's why I keep saying when it turns, it'll turn big and really quick.

“We compared it to when Leigh Matthews went to Brisbane in 1999, they had these younger guys like Simon Black and Luke Power were 19, Nigel Lappin, Chris Johnson, Jason Akermanis and the Scott twins were all 22 but they were high-end footy intelligence.

“They already had Voss and those guys like Alastair Lynch and Justin Leppitsch … and these younger guys were able to come in and pick up things really quick and really charge.

“They won 16 games in Leigh’s first year and made a prelim. Then they go backwards slightly the next year out at the semi-final stage and then the next year they win a flag.

“In a space of 60 games, they're winning a flag. This is what's going to happen here.”

King is also impressed by the way Gold Coast is playing from a tactical perspective as their ball movement and rebound game came to the fore in the clutch win over Essendon.

“When you see the shift in the way they play ... like they won the game yesterday on ball movement,” King said.

“The ball was just tracking up and down the ground and you could see Essendon were happy to engage in that sort of game.

“Last week we talked about Essendon winning the ball back at half-back and Ridley being that dominant presence there.

“Well, they got beaten in the half-back bounce game, which is an indicator of premiership success. The teams that score efficiently from the centre circle to the top of the opposition forward 50 … yesterday it was eight scores to four in favour of the Suns.

“That's a big margin, and to only concede four shows that you're good enough once you've lost that ball from a Suns’ point of view to hold up (defensively).”

The Suns will hope to win their first game under Hardwick in Victoria on Saturday when they meet the Saints at Marvel Stadium.