For the first time in his career, Gold Coast ruckman Tom Nicholls will begin day one of the pre-season with the main group when the remainder of the SUNS’ list returns to training on Monday.
 
Amid a tumultuous season for Gold Coast, Nicholls enjoyed a breakout season in 2015, playing 15 games – doubling his career tally in one season – to establish himself as Rodney Eade’s first choice ruckman.
 
The 23-year-old missed the final three games of the season due to another knee injury, although this time it was at the less severe end of the spectrum, with the athletic tall suffering a capsule related injury, which brought his season to a premature end.
 
Nicholls has since returned to full fitness over the off-season break and is excited by the prospect of slotting straight back into training when the club’s pre-season campaign commences for the senior group.
 
“I will (be) straight back into it, transition fully in, do all the drills. My body’s feeling really good, the knee’s back to 100 per cent and I’ve been running and doing all my program and everything, so I’m really looking forward to it,” Nicholls told reporters at Movie World on Thursday morning.
 
Injury marred Nicholls’ first four seasons at Metricon Stadium, but in 2015 he wrestled the No. 1 ruck mantle away from Zac Smith who had held the title since the club’s inception in 2011.
 
On the back of a career best season and an extended injury-free spell, Nicholls admits he takes a lot of confidence into this pre-season and momentum into 2016. Although, he is far from satisfied by where his game currently sits.
 
“It definitely gives you a lot of confidence going into this pre-season and then into the consecutive season as well,” Nicholls said.
 
“For me, I’ll be looking to improve my game where I can as well, and not resting on my laurels of last year and finishing off the season (next year) playing as many games as I can.”
 
In the space of less than two weeks, the arrival of renowned high performance manager, Justin Cordy, has already been met with glowing reviews from Gold Coast’s first to fourth year players. And Nicholls is confident Cordy will have a significant impact on the list over the summer.
 
“I think he will have a massive impact, he already has. The young boys really rave about him and they’ve only been there for a week and a half now,” Nicholls said.
 
“When the older boys start back next week I think they’ll all be looking forward to getting stuck into it and getting to know him."