The Gold Coast U18 Male Academy team came away with a win over the Brisbane Lions on Saturday.

Male Academy Head Coach Andrew Raines was left pleased with his team’s performance as they finished the game 12.8 (80) to 7.12 (54).

This was the SUNS’ second win of the pre-season and the team is continuing to build towards the 2018 Academy Series.

“It was a good performance, obviously still practice game series for us. We’ve got one more game next week and then we’re into the real stuff,” Raines told SUNS TV.

“It’s always good to play an opponent that we’re going to be playing, and also our QClash rival in Brisbane,

“We had a win…and it’s just good to see the boys, after putting in a hard couple of months over summer, now put it into games and really reap the benefits of their pre-season work.”

This pre-season has seen the program and resources around the Academy continue to grow, with the players getting a small taste of what life as an elite footballer entails.

Hard work from the players is still required, and Raines is confident that there continues to be solid improvements both physically and with their footy skills.

“It’s a credit to them and the program that we’re doing,” Raines said. 

“We’ve put in some more resources this year. We’ve got a full-time strength and conditioning coach and physio, so that helps the boys off the field and in their training program.

“Combining that with high level coaches, you can see that they’re starting to put some good size on, they’re running pretty well and their footy skills are going pretty well too.

The SUNS Academy team will head to Byron Bay this weekend to take on the Broadbeach Football Club.

Coming up against bigger bodies will give the side a different test before they kick off their Academy Series against Tasmania on April 14 in Sydney.