Brereton: The "unsettling influence" at the root of Gold Coast's issues

When Christian Petracca left Melbourne for the Gold Coast, the Suns’ premiership stocks rose exponentially.

18 rounds into the season, they could not be lower.

The Suns have underperformed severely, residing in 14th place after a 79-point loss to Adelaide - marking their seventh consecutive defeat.

In attempt to restore form, coach Damien Hardwick has enforced a shift on their expensive star recruit.

Over the last four weeks, Petracca has been handed season-lows in centre bounce attendances, with just 56 per cent attendance rate against Hawthorn in Round 15 and 50 per cent against Fremantle in Round 16.

In Round 17, Petracca was granted a minuscule 24 per cent against Collingwood, followed by 31 per cent against Adelaide over the weekend.

While the former Demon’s statistical output might suggest his tenure has been a success, the Suns have – to put it bluntly - regressed since his arrival.

Petracca wasn’t the only premiership star that Melbourne decided to move on, with Clayton Oliver also shifted to the GWS Giants on an incredibly cheap deal.

His time in western Sydney has rivalled his former premiership teammate, starring week in, week out in a side now rising to possible finals contention.

Having analysed the pair of former Dees, Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton believes the staggering difference between the two is rather obvious.

“Clayton Oliver had been sent to GWS almost with his tail between his legs,” Brereton told AFL Nation.

“He lands there and says, ‘What do you want of me and how do you want me to do it, and I’ll subscribe to anything you say because I am starting from scratch’.

“I think the whole football world will say Clayton has been unbelievably good for the Giants.

“Christian Petracca is different. He's at the other end.

“He is, ‘I've got disagreements with Melbourne, I was not happy with the way I was handled and in my injury status a couple of years ago.

“‘I've been unhappy since then, but I'm a million dollar plus player. Who's the highest bidder? I'll go Gold Coast. Alright, I'm going there as the big recruit’.

“He lands in a midfield that already has a captain in the midfield (Noah Anderson), a Brownlow Medallist in the midfield (Matt Rowell), the longest-serving club legend in the midfield in Touk Miller and an aspiring star who's starting to get more midfield minutes (Bailey Humphrey).

“Christian goes in there and he's a star player who doesn't do much of the negative work, i.e. he will run forward of the ball when it's not his turn to run forward of the ball.

“Unless he's at the stoppage and the person appears before him… he'll still lay that tackle, he'll step two or three steps to make that tackle, but if it means putting the ears back and gut running 10 metres to lay a tackle, he ain't doing that.

“And I reckon all those other blokes who were there before him, and they won't say it, but they'll look at it and go, ‘we’ve been busting ourselves here’, and I reckon it's an unsettling influence.”

As it currently stands, Petracca ranks 112th in the AFL for pressure acts with an average of 14.9 per game, while ranking 319th for defensive half pressure acts with 5.1 per game.

Teammate Matt Rowell ranks first in the competition with 12.5, while Noah Anderson (9.8) and Touk Miller (6.7) both reside within the top 170 competition wide.

The Suns host the Western Bulldogs next Sunday, with a loss ultimately ruling them out of September contention.