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The Gold Coast’s main tourist strip at Surfers Paradise was the scene for a Gold Coast SUNS beach recovery session yesterday.
After their recovery, players mingled with fans, signed autographs and helped out with a Surfers Paradise SLSC fundraising sausage sizzle.
According to Gold Coast SUNS’ Senior Coach Guy McKenna, the chance to combine the midpoint of his squad’s pre-season campaign with a community visit to the Gold Coast’s epicentre was a neat a parallel.
“We’re very much a community club. It’s a great opportunity to get into the Gold Coast’s heart and show people what we’re about.”
All clubs get nervous when their charges return from an extended break. History shows that much hard work can come undone over Christmas. But this time any jitters were unwarranted, McKenna said.
“The guys’ time in testing actually showed they’ve improved and in some cases have made massive gains. So they’ve gone into a break probably a bit fatigued from a really tough camp and come out the other side in a really good place.”
While all other AFL clubs have years up their sleeves to form a stable core of talent and a playing style, the GC SUNS – apart from a few exceptions – has had only a few months to establish its playing structures and on- and off-field camaraderie.
This, McKenna said, is where the greatest challenge of the remainder of the pre-season lies.
“We’ve made it through the first phase of the preseason, getting them stronger, more powerful and more aerobically capable. Now we need to get them to gel. We need to get our backline coordinated with our midfielders and our midfielders working with our forwards. That’s our biggest challenge up until and through the NAB Cup.”
Although excited by the pool of talent at his disposal, he said the old adage ‘a champion team will beat a team of champions’ rang particularly true.
“Of course we’ve got Gary Ablett and a best and fairest winner in Michael Rischitelli. There’s Bocky [former Crow Nathan Bock] and Campbell Brown and Dan Harris who has 149 games with North Melbourne to his credit. But now we’ve got to get all these guys operating as one with our young blokes. We need everyone working to mesh together. Gary’s not going to have Joel Selwood, Cam Ling and Corey Enright around anymore. He’s going to have to have the likes of young fellas Dave Swallow and Mav Weller, so gelling now becomes crucial.”
Western Australian-raised Brandon Matera is one of the raw young talents older GC SUNS will be looking to combine with. A small forward with uncanny goal sense who may also play a role in the midfield, Matera will hopefully get plenty of opportunities to impress.
Speaking after recovery, Matera said he and the rest of the squad relished the opportunity to get out and about in their hometown.
“One of the values of our club is to get out in the community and get involved and the boys all enjoy the chance to get out amongst the club’s fans. Our membership numbers are looking really good. We’re going well.”
He said the Christmas rest had left him feeling refreshed and raring to go.
“It was good to have a break. I was feeling a bit fatigued approaching the end of the last year, so it was good to get off the legs for a bit.”
He echoed McKenna’s delight at the physical state of the squad on the post-break resumption of training.
“Everyone’s come back really fit and strong and really looking forward to Round 2 against Carlton.”
