FOOTBALL
AFL EXPORTS
By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
IN his ninth AFL season, Morwell’s Ben Ainsworth might just have his best shot at success since entering the big league.
The Gold Coast Suns small forward brought up his 150th game at the weekend, and is currently in the midst of a season in which the expansion club is on the verge of its first-ever finals appearance.
Ainsworth also received life membership for the club by achieving the milestone.
Before being drafted fourth overall in the 2016 National Draft, Ainsworth was the excitement of the Latrobe Valley, running amuck as a phenomenal junior player threading through Morwell Youth Club to Morwell Football-Netball Club to Gippsland Power.
The Morwell young gun represented Australia overseas in South Africa and made AFL Academy trips to New Zealand and America, the latter visiting the IMG Academy in Florida, which developed the likes of tennis star Maria Sharapova and NFL quarterback Eli Manning.
During this time, Ainsworth also made regular appearances for Morwell as a 15-year-old during their famed run to the Gippsland League senior premiership in 2013.
Once in under 18s, Ainsworth was selected as an All Australian in his first season at Gippsland Power, and was named captain of Power in his draft year.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing in his final year of juniors. Ainsworth missed a number of games due to injury and suspension, before hitting form in the backend of the season, including a best-on-ground performance against Bendigo Pioneers with 22 touches and four goals.
Making his AFL debut in Round 1, 2017 against Brisbane Lions (Q Clash to start things off), Ainsworth finished with 14 disposals and two goals in a two-point loss.
Despite a turbulent season for the Suns, the final year of Gary Ablett Jr’s tenure up north and coach Rodney Eade being sacked with three games remaining, Ainsworth proved formidable in his first year, garnering an AFL Rising Star nomination against Essendon in Round 22, and had a four-goal outing against North Melbourne in Round 15.
At 27, the best is still perhaps yet to come, but he hit his best form throughout 2022 and 2023 when he averaged 16.8 disposals and booted 46 goals across 43 games.
In the second year of the Damien Hardwick era, Gold Coast has developed into a serious finals contender, in what could be the club’s first postseason berth since they joined the AFL in 2011.
Ainsworth told breakfast radio last week that the side has really shot up the ladder with the arrival of the three-time Richmond premiership coach.
“I think it’s been building over the last three or four years now, especially as Dimma (Hardwick) came last year and laid the foundations of what we want to be as a football club … we’re growing as a footy club and I can’t wait for what’s ahead,” he told RSN Breakfast with Harf.
While noting how special it is to get to the 150 mark, Ainsworth also said he’s focussed on the season ahead and playing in the big games for the first time in his career.
“It’s a pretty cool achievement, playing 150 games, but I’m sort of entrenched in what the team’s doing at the moment, like we’ve never been in this situation before as a footy club in terms of potentially playing finals this late in the season,” he added.
Ainsworth is a member of a strong contingent of Latrobe Valley and Gippsland players up on the Gold Coast, with Moe’s Bailey Humphrey, Fish Creek’s and former Moe junior Sam Flanders, Heyfield’s Asher Eastham, and Maffra’s Max Knobel (latter two yet to play).
In conjunction with all that was previously mentioned, Ainsworth also spent time with the Express in 2015 as a part of his work experience with SEDA.
He contributed a midseason report on Morwell, Traralgon and Moe by sitting down with senior coaches Joel Soutar, Mark Collison and Adrian Burgiel.
