Gold Coast SUNS Coach Guy McKenna openly declared consistency will be his main focus heading into this season, as the playing group begins preparing for the AFL NAB Cup next month.
The GC SUNS, who host the Brisbane Lions and Hawthorn at Metricon Stadium on February 23, engaged in a competitive and intense match-simulated training session today, with players taking the opportunity to execute some of the game’s offensive and defensive structures the team has been working on over their pre-season program.
Despite seeing the benefits of the team’s new game structures this morning, Bluey (McKenna) knows that the team isn’t in a position to determine how much the playing group has improved until the team faces a true AFL opposition.
“It’s great to have everyone so fit and healthy, but it’s always difficult at this time of the year as we’re still playing against each other and everyone knows what you’re trying to do.”
“With that being said though, the boys are covering what they need to be and the ball is starting to move in the way it should.”
With the club having experienced an injury interrupted season last year and with a handful of new recruits like Tom Murphy and Greg Broughton yet to play a game for the GC SUNS, McKenna indicated that the NAB Cup would be important for team cohesion.
“We’re really looking at getting the cohesion and chemistry amongst the group before the start of the season.”
“We’d like to get our back six playing amongst themselves, our midfield group running with six on the ground, and getting our forwards working together and understanding their offensive roles.”
“We’ve got 35-37 players that we’ve got to squeeze into 30-32 players for the NAB Cup and for the first time in the club’s history we’ve got strong competition for spots which is a great headache for our team.”
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