Zeke Uwland is poised to join two elite groups in Gold Coast SUNS history on Saturday night.
The 18-year-old has been named to play in the season opener against Geelong at People First Stadium on Friday night alongside his brother Bodhi Uwland, who marks his 50th AFL/SUNS game.
The home-grown duo, members of the club since its inception, will become the second pair of brothers to play together in red and gold, following Gary and Nathan Ablett, who shared the last two games of 2011.
They’ll also become the third pair of brothers to wear red and gold after the Abletts and Maverick and Lachie Weller.
And Zeke – the first Zeke to play in the AFL – will be just the 13th SUNS player to debut in the opening game of his first season in the AFL.
This is special … as it is whenever a player steps straight from under-age football to the premier sporting competition in the country.
When Uwland Jnr plays on Friday night, it will be all of 107 days since he joined the SUNS on 19 November last year as pick #2 in the 2025 AFL Draft.
He’ll be 316 days beyond his 18th birthday – 276 days younger than his brother – and 12 months quicker in transition than his brother, who was rookie #37 in 2021, spent much of 2022 in a back brace after a stress fracture, and debuted in Round 1 2023.
Uwland Jnr will be the fourth-youngest among this ‘Fast Track Thirteen’. And he’ll be hoping to be just the third member of this group to begin with a win.
Excluded from the ‘FT13’ are 12 AFL debutants from the SUNS first game in 2011 - rugby league convert Karmichael Hunt (24), Zac Smith (21), Charlie Dixon (20), Brandon Matera, Alik Magin, Marc Lock (19), Harley Bennell, Trent McKenzie, Dion Prestia, David Swallow, Seb Tape and Josh Toy (18) – because they’d played a full season with the club in the VFL in 2010.
So, the first SUNS player to go from AFL draftee to AFL player in extra quick time was Aaron Hall, pick #7 in the 2012 Pre-Season Draft. He was 21 in a 68-point debut loss to Adelaide at People First Stadium in 2012.
In 2014 recently-retired 149-gamer Sean Lemmens played Round 1 in his first season after being pick #27 in the 2013 Draft. He was 19 when he enjoyed an 18-point home win over Richmond.
There was a triple-treat in 2015 when pick #15 Jarrod Garlett, #29 Touk Miller and rookie #25 Adam Saad, aged 18, 19 and 20 respectively, began with a 26-point MCG loss to Melbourne.
The youngest member of the ‘FF13’ was Callum AhChee. Pick #8 in the 2015 Draft he debuted in Round 1 2016 aged 18 years 169 days as the SUNS beat Essendon by 61 points at PFS.
In 2017 Ben Ainsworth and Jack Bowes, pick #4 and pick #10 in 2016, debuted in Q-Clash #11 at PFS aged 19. They lost by two points.
Jack Lukosius, pick #2 in 2018, was 18 years 227 days when he endured a heart-breaking one-point SUNS loss to St.Kilda at Marvel Stadium in Round 1 2019.
Completing the FF13 was the 2020 triple-treat of Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Connor Budarick, picks #1, #2 and rookie #16 who began with a 47-point home loss to Port Adelaide. Rowell, aged 18 years 264 days, was the third-youngest FF13 member behind Lemmens and Lukosius. Budarick was 18/350 and Anderson was 19.
What else do you notice about the FT13 group? No less than six of them – Saad, AhChee, Ainsworth, Bowes, Lukosius and Budarick – will play against the SUNS this year. And that’s after Hall and Garlett finished their careers in opposition colors.
Zeke Uwland, studying law/commerce at Griffith University and working part-time as a paralegal at a local law firm in his ‘spare’ time, was born and raised on the coast.
He is yet another product of All-Saints Anglican College, a veritable factory for Gold Coast sporting stars, and a graduate of the Burleigh Bombers who joined the SUNS Academy aged 12.
He made his senior debut at Burleigh a month after his 16th birthday, and was voted best on ground in Burleigh's 2023 senior grand final winning team that year playing alongside twin brother Mali and now SUNS' teammate Lachie Gulbin.
An All Australian Under 16 choice in 2023 and a bottom-age All-Australian Under 18 pick in 2024, he missed much of 2025 with a back injury but still went #2 in the Draft, behind only West Coast’s Willem Duursma, when the SUNS matched an Eagles bid for him.
TRIVIA QUIZ
For the football fanatics as the hype builds, which other SUNS players – the Abletts, Uwlands and Wellers aside – have had a brother who also played in the AFL?
David Swallow, inaugural SUNS draftee and games record-holder, played his 249 games in red and yellow after Andrew Swallow played 224 games at North Melbourne.
Alik Magin, another member of the first SUNS side and an eight-game player for the club in 2011-12, followed Rhys, who played four games at Essendon in 2008.
Joel Tippett, who played two SUNS games late in 2011 before seven games at North Melbourne, is the brother of Adelaide and Sydney star Kurt Tippett, now a SUNS board member.
Matthew Warnock, a 32-game Sun in 2012-14 after 55 games at Melbourne, is the older brother of Robert Warnock, who played 88 games at Fremantle and Carlton.
Kade Kolodjashnij, a 78-game Sun from 2014-18 before a move to Melbourne and a concussion-driven early retirement, is the brother of Geelong premiership defender Jake Kolodjashnij.
Recent Victorian State of Origin selection Ben King has played 120 games with the SUNS after going at pick #6 in the 2018 AFL Draft – two spots behind brother Max, who has played 83 games with St.Kilda.
Elijah Holland, now playing at Carlton with brother Ollie, began his career with 14 games at the SUNS in 2022-23. And Tom Berry, brother of Brisbane’s Jarrod, played 23 SUNS games in 2023-24 after 20 games at Brisbane.
