After two years of growth the Gold Coast SUNS are confident the club’s gruelling pre-season schedule has given the squad every opportunity to contest physically over the course of four quarters.
For many of the GC SUNS players this year will mark their third pre-season with the club, and more and more players seem to be now equipped to handling the physical rigours of AFL football.
When asked what it would be like to finally have Jaeger O’Meara available to him the after the WA teenager completed his first year apprenticeship in the NEAFL last season, senior coach Guy McKenna said his transition into the senior side should be uncomplicated given O’Meara’s unique physique.
“He’s a lot like David Swallow, he doesn’t look like a teenager at all; he looks like a man ready to play AFL football.”
“He’s done everything he possibly can to give himself every chance to play Round 1.”
Despite having already shown that he belongs in the AFL, Karmichael Hunt continues to impress McKenna after trimming down to the lightest weight in his professional football career just before the Christmas break.
“When I go back to my time at West Coast, those first and second year players going into their third and fourth pre-season really just began maturing.”
“It’s almost as though the thumbs gone from the mouth… I think it’s just the maturation of those players who were at the age of 18, 19 now going onto 21 and 22 and we’re starting to see the benefits of that.”
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