7th December 2021

AFL CAIRNS MEDIA RELEASE

Gordonvale SUNS to rise in 2022

Gordonvale’s new Junior AFL club will be officially known as the Gordonvale SUNS, thanks to a community partnership with the Gold Coast SUNS.

Following the disbandment of the Pyramid Power in 2020, AFL Cairns has hosted Auskick sessions and community engagement meetings in Gordonvale. These were held with the aim of bringing footy back to the town, and building a strong, sustainable base of players, parents, and volunteers.

Cairns-born AFL Star Jarrod Harbrow visited the town to announce the team’s name and Gold Coast SUNS community partnership, hosting a skills clinic for junior players. Harbrow’s 192 AFL games with Gold Coast is the most of any player in the club’s history. He previously played with the South Cairns Cutters and Manunda Hawks as a junior with AFL Cairns.

AFL Cairns President, Gary Young reinforced the League’s commitment to a football club in the Cairns southern corridor. “We were really disappointed when Pyramid Power decided to discontinue after a relatively short but successful life. AFL Cairns firmly believes in developing AFL footy in our southern suburbs and we believe it will be really successful in time,” he said.

“The partnership with the Gold Coast SUNS really creates a great platform for the new Gordonvale club. Let’s hope it becomes a great relationship with new members for the SUNS and great inspiration for our local players,” said Young.

The Gold Coast SUNS have had a long-standing partnership with the Cairns region and this announcement will only continue to strengthen those ties.

“We’re thrilled to be supporting the Gordonvale SUNS as they prepare to enter the AFL Cairns competition,” General Manager Consumer and Community Jane McGough said.

“It’s exciting that they will wear our colours and help to endear our brand to the region, as we continue a strong pathway from junior football to the elite level.”

A pathway that has seen seven players from Cairns on either our AFL or AFLW lists over the past eleven years and hopefully we can continue to add more talented juniors from the Cairns region and specifically the Gordonvale SUNS into the future.”

The Gordonvale SUNS will be the first major sporting club in the town’s history to bear the “Gordonvale” name.

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