The long wait for Stuart Dew is over.

On Saturday night at Cazalys Stadium, he’ll make his debut as a senior coach when Gold Coast take on North Melbourne.

Since taking charge in October last year Dew, along with the rest of the coaching staff, have worked hard to implement a new game plan that the players have fully bought into.

It’s been evident on the training track and in the JLT Series, and now it’s time to test it in the heat of battle.

“It’s exciting, we as a club have done a fair bit of work over the last 5 months,” Dew told the media in Cairns.

“So it’s the first opportunity, obviously, it’s 2 hours, the start of a long journey so we’re really keen to see how we go.”

The expectations are clear, with Dew keen to see his players continue on the same path that they have worked on for months.

If the effort and consistency is there, then results and winning games will be the by-product of that.

“I’d just love to see them continue what they’ve done.

“What I’ve seen from day one is really great effort and consistency, so it’s been really hard to narrow down the 22 that are rolling out tomorrow and even though a couple of guys missed from last week, guys are stepping in that are more than capable.

“We just love a consistent effort, so I think if we play that way we’ll get the result.”

Since day one, Dew has adopted a relationship-based approach that has served him well so far in his first senior coaching role.

The sense of family within the group is evident and has given Dew the perfect foundation to work from. 

“It’s hard when you’re trying to service 45 players plus staff, but I think if you’ve got the right intention I think that they can fill that and make it a bit of a two-way relationship as well. 

“So rather than it being purely transactional in a performance sense, I think we can grow together.

“I’m going to learn as much as the players, I’m certainly not standing at the front saying that I’ve got all the answers so I’m really looking for that two-way feedback from players.”