Stop me if you've heard this before — the Gold Coast Suns play Richmond in a twilight game in Queensland, produce an improbable come-from-behind victory to win it with a kick after the siren. Absolute chaos ensues.
For the Suns and the Tigers this is a familiar story, but we're talking about a game a decade ago rather than a few days back.
Before Noah Anderson's fairytale finish to the comeback at Carrara there was Karmichael Hunt and the comeback at Cazaly's — and it happened exactly 10 years ago today.
The background
The Suns had come into being in 2011, led by superstar skipper Gary Ablett and a handful of other experienced players like Jarrod Harbrow, Nathan Bock, Michael Rischitelli, Danny Stanley and Josh Fraser.
Blessed with an undercast of exciting young talent all learning what it took in the big league, the Suns struggled — after three wins in their first 17 games, they hit a wall.
By the time they came to Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns in round 16, 2012, their stretch of losses had extended to 21 games.
Prior to the match, three of their past five losses had been by 95 points or greater, although they had held Geelong to a 14-point margin the week before at Carrara.
Looking back a decade on, Karmichael Hunt recalls the struggles at the Suns after his high-profile code-hopping signing from the NRL's Brisbane Broncos 16 months out from Gold Coast's inaugural season.
"Leaving school as a 17-year-old, I walked into the most successful rugby league club, arguably in history, the Broncos, certainly in the modern era," he says.
"But if you ever lost two times in a row or even three times in a row, God forbid, it was like someone had died at training. No one was talking, no one was smiling.
"To go from the winning environment at the Broncos, State of Origin and whatnot, to an experimental start-up team…
"It was a really tough slog, and not a fun experience to be involved in as a player — but zooming the lens out and now having to reflect on it, it was a really valuable lesson and [enabled] a good understanding of what it takes to compete as a team at the elite level."
Hunt played most of his football off half-back for the Suns, with occasional runs through the middle. Goal-kicking wasn't really his 'one wood' — he had only kicked two goals before that day.
"It's funny, Malcolm Blight was on the coaching staff at the time, and he was trying to mould the team … In the lead-up to [the game in Cairns] we were doing a bit of goal-kicking practice, and a lot of fundamentals on kicking," Hunt says.
"But for me, to be honest, there wasn't a lot of goal-kicking practice. I wasn't spending hours or even half an hour after training practising goal kicking."
AFL Cairns managing director (now president) Gary Young was at the ground that day to watch months of preparation by locals come to fruition.
"This was the second game in a three-year deal with the Tigers to play in Cairns — the first one was the previous year when the Suns had beaten the Tigers.
"Coming off a win the year before, the Suns had been adopted by locals; the AFL had allocated regional Queensland north of Rockhampton as a recruiting zone for Gold Coast."
One local boy returning to Cairns that week was Harbrow, who had played junior footy there as a kid and teenager — first for South Cairns Cutters beginning at under-9s, later the Manunda Hawks then back for two senior games at South Cairns — before moving to Victoria.
He would eventually play four seasons for the Western Bulldogs before returning to Queensland for the Suns.
"There was plenty (of people I knew there). It's always an interesting one leading into the week, all the family and friends asking you for tickets.
"I think I would have had about 40 tickets allocated, they all certainly got used up. Knowing they were there, the whole build-up to the game had been pretty good.
"We got up there a couple of days before the game, you get to go out to schools and the community and you have your final training run the day before and people are allowed to come along and watch.
"It's just a good vibe, and my home ground, which made it even more special."
Tigers in race for top eight
The Suns may have been under the pump coming to Cairns, but they were not the only ones facing pressure to win.
The Tigers had been missing from the finals since 1995, with a few of the dreaded ninth-place finishes thrown in to further frustrate the club, its players and fans.
For the Tigers, 2012 finally looked like it might be the year — they were 10th going into round 16, within striking distance of September action.
The Tigers had seven wins, seven losses and a percentage of 107.70. Ahead of them were St Kilda in eighth on 121.3 and Carlton in ninth on 108.7.
Just behind them were the Kangaroos on 104.8 and Fremantle on 94.5.
So, with five teams between eighth and 12th separated by just percentage, the pressure was on for the Tigers to take advantage of playing the cellar-dwellers by coming away with a big win. It didn't start like that, however.
The first half
The teams split the first four goals of the game, then the Suns started to really take to their opportunities. Majors to Brandon Matera and Harley Bennell kicked the Gold Coast clear, and the Suns led by 12 points at quarter-time after kicking with the wind in the opening term.
Ablett then kicked the first of the second term, and Damien Hardwick was looking frustrated in the Tigers' coaching box.
His demeanour was not improved when Alex Rance took Ablett in a crunching tackle, before having to leave the ground with a cork to the leg, although he later returned to the field.
As a number of teams have since found out to their cost, the weather is almost a physical presence in Cairns.
On that day in July, the lowest the humidity registered was 70 per cent at 1pm.
By game time at 4:40pm, the temperature was still 26 degrees Celsius, down from a high of 28, with humidity of 84 per cent.
For Hunt, it was a familiar situation for a player used to playing the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville.
"[It was] very similar conditions [to Townsville], very humid, very slippery ball. Sweat obviously drips off you from the moment you walk out there for warm-up.
"Those factors alone, whether you're playing the Cowboys in Townsville or the Tigers in Cairns, made for a more difficult contest than you would get in Brissie at the same time of the year.
While conditions were tough, Gold Coast was handling them better.
Richmond was under pressure in the middle. It seemed like Trent Cotchin and Brett Deledio were everywhere, leading with desperation for the Tigers, but the rest of their teammates were trailing behind.
Josh Hall — previously a World Youth Championship high jump bronze medallist — kicked his first AFL goal on debut a few minutes shy of time on, then later took advantage of a 50-metre penalty to grab his second, and the lead was out to 34 points.
But Richmond rescued things slightly with two late goals, including one from Angus Graham right on half-time — the Suns led by 24 at the main break. Five times previously that season, the Suns had led at half-time only to lose.
Memories are hazy about Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna's half-time chat in the sheds, but Hunt has a go at recreating it.
"My assumption is… that because winning was so unusual at that time — everyone wanted it so badly, it would have been a moment of shock at least, knowing we were this close. But those moments can become fleeting. So a) we're close but b) damn, we've still got a half of footy to go," he says.
The third quarter
Whatever was said at half-time in the other rooms, the Tigers came out firing.
They had the first seven scores of the second half, including five goals. The Tigers were terrorising the Suns and making them pay for almost every turnover.
Jack Riewoldt put them ahead with his third of the game and when Robin Nahas kicked one at the 17-minute mark, they led by eight points.
The Suns badly needed a circuit-breaker and 90 seconds later they got one. They rebounded off half-back and Harbrow went long down the wing to Ablett, who took a mark and slid to a stop.
The skipper went back, looked inside and chipped a perfect lob of a kick over the Richmond defence to a running Karmichael Hunt who steadied, looked up on 50 and drilled a low right-foot kick that landed just over the goal line.
From the ensuing bounce Ablett won the clearance and went inside 50, the ball came back but then Brandon Matera handballed out to Aaron Hall — the newly-arrived sub ran to his right, caught it perfectly off the boot and curled it inside the right-hand post to put Gold Coast ahead.
Riewoldt kicked one in the late stages to make it four points to the Tigers at three-quarter time.
The final term
The Suns hit the lead briefly by a point in the final term, but then the Tigers looked to have finished the game off, with scores to Luke McGuane, Riewoldt and Addam Maric putting them three goals clear at the 17-minute mark.
Former Hawk Campbell Brown missed a chance to get the Suns back in it with a set shot, but then a chaos ball down the left funnelled inwards from Sam Day to Josh Caddy, who hoofed it from 60m out.
A kind bounce took it through and suddenly there was 10 points in it, and 3:51 to go.
By this time in the final minutes, the humidity at Cazaly's was up to a punishing 94 per cent, making clean possession difficult.
The play was getting scrappy as players tired and errors mounted, but the crowd was getting louder as they sensed the Suns were still a show.
Aaron Hall launched one inside 50 for the Suns, but Brown dropped it as he dived full-length in the right forward pocket, prompting groans from the crowd.
With two minutes left, the ball was thrown in on the wing, 90m from the Suns goal. Thirty seconds later, the ball went out in the right forward pocket for Richmond.
Soon afterwards, Trent McKenzie kicked it straight to a Tiger and it looked like the game was up, but the Richmond player didn't kick it 15m and the Suns spoiled and went the other way.
When Jared Brennan was caught with the ball in the centre square with 64 seconds left, all the Tigers had to do was find a mark and run the clock out.
The last crazy minute
Maric found Shane Tuck, who looked around and chipped it forward but Tom Derickx spilt it… and the ball bobbled around once more.
Liam Patrick finally ran onto it 60m out and fired a perfect handball to Harbrow, who used his pace to hit the ball on the burst.
The Suns' number five lost it in the air, regathered, evaded the last Richmond defender and steadied to kick the goal. Cue crazy energy from the crowd, with 25 seconds left and just four points the diff.
"I just happened to be up high around the midfield at the time — I remember it just opened up, I timed it (my run) well, and received that handball off Liam," Harbrow remembers.
"[On] instincts I just stepped in and went around him and into an open goal — even then it didn't come off my boot properly, it just helicoptered through. But it was a goal, and it was a much-needed goal to give us a chance."
In the grandstand, Gary Young from AFL Cairns was watching, spellbound, along with nearly 11,000 other fans.
In a time before 6-6-6, all the Tigers had to do was stack their defence, avoid giving away the clearance and that should have been it.
At the final bounce, the Tigers were flooding back, but Harbrow and David Swallow were inexplicably free on the grandstand side of the centre square.
Suns ruck Zac Smith got his fingers to the ball, it went forward and Ablett contested with three Richmond players. Shaun Grigg got his boot to the ball for the Tigers, but it was smothered by the Suns, Swallow fed it out to McKenzie, who let fly with his powerful left foot.
A pack formed 25m out, just off centre. The ball came down with 12 seconds left, Brennan nearly took a mark but it spilt to Richmond's Rance, who paddled it away as he stumbled.
Matera picked up the ball deep in the left forward pocket, there were eight seconds left.
The crowd was at fever pitch as he looked up near the point of the 50 — seven seconds, six seconds… — and as two Richmond defenders closed in, rather than going for goal he kicked it across his body in the Suns' last, desperate hope.
Waiting there was Hunt, who jumped to grab it with four seconds left. As commentators lost it, and the crowd went wild, the siren sounded.
"It was the ideal spot on the ground (to have that kick)," Young says.
"If you even kick it a bit to the right [of the posts], the south-easterly breeze there at that time of day will have it come back right to left."
Of that crazy final minute, Hunt struggles to think of anything similar in his career.
"The Suns were within striking distance, but you're no guarantee to win the bounce of the ball let alone [McKenzie] cranking it down deep to get it inside 50, then for Brandon Matera to do what he did," he says.
"I remember watching what Harbs (Harbrow) did, and thinking 'oh wow, we are a chance here', and then there was this moment of being inside 50 and let's see if we can clean this ball up.
"The game was… the jerseys were all sweaty, the ball was just wet, and obviously fatigue was a factor as well.
"If it was Gaz or Harley Bennell, I dare say they probably (would have) had a shot at goal.
"But knowing Brandon Matera and just how crafty he is… I wasn't sure that he was actually trying to find me until he chipped it over and I ended up catching it on my chest and quite cleanly considering how bloody sweaty the ball was!
"I'd taken the mark, I knew there was minimal or no time left — you had Harley and Gaz come over and give their advice, which was kind of 'no pressure, just kick it!'.
"That actually played well in my own head because I had the same thought — you know what, if you have a go at something and you fail, so be it as long as you have a go.
Hunt kicked truly, the crowd went mad, and the Suns converged on him in a wave.
The celebrations
Bennell and Danny Stanley were the first to arrive, followed by the goal assister Matera, Swallow, Dion Prestia, Matt Shaw, and others.
The second wave included Mav Weller, Charlie Dixon and ruckman Matthew Warnock. Ablett was sensible and hung around the outside with a huge grin on his face.
And then over the top came Rischitelli and Liam Patrick, who years afterwards booted eight goals in a BOG grand final performance for the Katherine South Crocs in the Big Rivers Football League.
He may have been known in the Territory as the "Lajamanu Lightning Bolt", but on that day in Cairns, Patrick resembled nothing so much as a paddle surfer, riding on the heads of the ecstatic Suns beneath him.
It was a moment of pure footy joy, and it was contagious.
"Liam Patrick jumped on top of the pack, which was pretty high, and then I just thought I've got to go one better," says Harbrow.
"I was way, way up the top in the end, just carrying on (and) celebrating like a clown. I was just so excited.
"Actually, before that, the reason I got there late was when the goal was kicked I was over the other side of the oval, in the pocket on the scoreboard side.
"As soon as he kicked it, my first reaction was to celebrate with the crowd, so I turned around and looked at the crowd, because I was close to the fence line.
Ten years later, it was Suns' second-gamer Hewago Paul Oea who got hurt in the celebrations, dislocating his finger while jumping on the pile. In Cairns, forward Sam Day was the one who paid a price.
"The celebration afterwards is what sticks out. It was stacks on, everyone just jumped in, and the famous photo is Liam Patrick jumping on top of the pile," he says.
"I was a bit late to the party as well, I think I copped a boot from one of the boys [who] jumped all the way on top and got split open – but I'm sure the boys right underneath there could feel Flash [Liam Patrick] … as he does he definitely got up nice and high. It was a fitting celebration!"
Hunt was inside the pile, surrounded by ecstatic teammates. He may not have seen all of the initial celebrations, but he has been brought up to speed since.
"They've got a Titanic YouTube clip (of the finish) and people send it to me all the time, and the goal has been played over the years on TV and… to see the celebration of all the boys, and Liam Patrick lying on top of everyone, it was awesome.
"I was just elated, slash exhausted. When you've got the boys piling around you, hugging you — it could have been bloody 20 guys on top of my head, I probably wouldn't even notice.
"It was that chaotic, and then after that there was a moment of almost… having lived that experience and seeing it firsthand, but then [having] a bit of disbelief that we'd actually won!
"Twenty-one weeks in a row, a loss. It was kind of like 'oh, we actually won here', it was a bit of a strange moment there for a second, but really enjoyable."
Inside the rooms, there was a happy pandemonium, as fans gathered to witness the return of the victorious team.
Once again, Hunt was mobbed by teammates and it was an excited group of players who let rip into the club song for the first time in 364 days.
"That was a fantastic day — except for hardcore Richmond supporters, everyone left the ground with a big smile on their face!" Young says.
"Our internet was struggling, with all the (media) stuff going out. It was several hours before things started to calm down a bit."
The aftermath
For the devastated Tigers, the loss was a big blow — they would only win three more games that season and finished 12th.
It may have been the last push they needed, however. The following year, Richmond made finals for the first time in 18 seasons — after finally beating the Suns in Cairns — and although they lost an elimination final to Port Adelaide, it was the start of a build that would lead to three flags.
The win wasn't everything, but it was a start for the Suns. They finished the year with three wins, the next year saw eight victories, before the sliding doors moment came in 2014. They looked a chance for finals before Ablett did his collarbone against Collingwood, and their best chance slipped away.
That year was Karmichael Hunt's last season with the Suns, as injuries and competition for places limited his playing time. He switched to rugby union in 2015, playing for the Reds and Waratahs and won six caps for Australia — he came back to league for one last season and is now an assistant coach at South Logan Magpies in Brisbane.
Ten years on from the comeback at Cazaly's, only Day and Swallow are still at the club — although Harbrow is the Suns' Indigenous programs coordinator after retiring at the end of last season.
Josh Caddy (now retired) and Dion Prestia have since gone to the Tigers, while Brandon Ellis went the other way and is now a mainstay of a Gold Coast side on the rise. Riewoldt and Shane Edwards were the other players involved in both games — the former kicking three for the Tigers last weekend to go with his bag of five in Cairns.
Regardless of all that has happened since, including the déjà vu moment at Carrara a decade on, that game in Cairns remains one of the biggest in the Suns' brief history, and a day the city will never forget.
