Ben Long celebrated his 100th AFL game in fine style, booting a career-high four goals in Gold Coast's important win over Essendon on Sunday.
In front of more than 20 family and friends who had travelled from the Northern Territory, Long produced a masterclass up forward in the Suns' 14.7 (91) to 11.14 (80) win over the Bombers at People First Stadium on the Gold Coast.
The 26-year-old was strong in the aerial contests, either taking strong marks or halving the contest, and was excellent at ground level with his tremendous pressure on the opposition defenders.
Suns coach Damien Hardwick was full of praise for the Territorian post-match.
"He's been terrific ever since he's come in," Hardwick told media.
"He competes, his defensive pressure and he's a very good finisher.
"He's a player, funnily enough, that I've admired since my time at Richmond – the way he goes about his craft, I've always thought that he looks like a really good forward because he competes above his height.
"But then, more importantly at ground level he's just so combative."
Along with his four majors, Long also set up a goal for teammate Ben King during the fourth quarter.
The proud Anmatyerre man has played just four full games as a permanent forward but has already contributed 11 goals this season.
When he is not scoring goals, he is often doing selfless acts for his team, which is something that has not gone unnoticed by coach Hardwick.
"It's a great testament to him, we sort of spoke about it yesterday that we wanted to take some of the traits that Ben brings and bring out into our game and I thought our guys did him proud today," Hardwick said.
Long is in his second season at the Suns after spending his first six years at the elite level with St Kilda.
The St Marys junior has previously spent time up forward with St Kilda, but has generally honed his craft as a rebounding defender.
He has had the luxury of training as a forward throughout this pre-season and after beginning the season in the VFL – where he booted an impressive 11 goals in three games – he was quickly presented an opportunity at AFL level.
"It's been really good, I've had a full pre-season up forward, found some form in the VFL and got my opportunity," Long said on the eve of his 100th match.
Gold Coast move to eighth position on the AFL ladder with a 7-5 win-loss record after 12 games.
Long will face his former club St Kilda this Saturday night at Marvel Stadium.
