Which club played the first AFL match by a Gold Coast team in 2011?

The Gold Coast Suns played their first AFL match in 2011.

The Suns entered the AFL for the 2011 season as the competition’s 17th club. Their first official match was against Carlton at the Gabba on 27 March 2011, and Gold Coast lost by 119 points.

Gold Coast was granted an AFL licence in 2009, after years of planning to establish a national-level team in Queensland’s largest city. The club’s home ground is Heritage Bank Stadium, formerly known as Metricon Stadium, in Carrara.

The Suns received several expansion concessions, including access to additional players and an initial priority selection. Their arrival was followed by Greater Western Sydney, which joined the AFL in 2012. This expansion changed the competition from 16 clubs to 18 and helped create a national footprint beyond the traditional southern states.