Jack Martin is leaving, but Suns believe list exodus is over
Jack Martin will walk to Carlton for free next week but Gold Coast believes the days of rival clubs poaching the best talent from its list are gone. Here’s why.
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Gold Coast is daring to believe it is solving its player retention crisis despite the club preparing for Jack Martin to leave for Carlton next week.
Suns chief executive Mark Evans said the club had never been better resourced to fast-track the talent of its young stars as it prepares for Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson to arrive in next week’s national draft.
Ben King was a revelation in his first season and then gave the club a huge shot in the arm by signing through to 2022, while talks continue with fellow top-10 pick Jack Lukosius.
The Suns’ revamped welfare and development programs include a greater focus on mental health care, with four full-time staff in the club’s welfare areas.
Martin will almost certainly leave for Carlton after the two clubs failed to broker a deal during the trade period, with the Suns adamant they would not be involved in a deal that did not involve a first-round pick.
But if the Suns can secure Lukosius as expected over the summer it will be the first time all of the club’s priority targets are signed long-term.
Only Lukosius is out of contract of the star kids for 2020, with Will Powell, Lachie Weller and Charlie Ballard the only regular senior players with deals expiring in 2021.
Brandon Ellis, Jarrod Witts, David Swallow and Jack Witts are signed to 2024, Hugh Greenwood, Rory Thompson and Alex Sexton to 2023 and Izak Rankin, King, Will Brodie, and Peter Wright among those signed to 2022.
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Player managers across the league say the club’s culture and leadership have finally stabilised, with young players happy to remain on the Gold Coast.
There are only a handful of elite players out of contract in the next two years, meaning the Suns can finally work on recruiting stars rather than losing them.
“Twelve months ago we started this re-set with losing a couple of captains out the door, knowing we would go in and pick up high-end draft talent in the next couple of years,’ Evans said.
“We heavily resourced around players’ welfare and development, around strength and conditioning, around how to fast-track on-field development, and it’s been in place for 12 months, so we are well set up to bring another group of talented kids through the door.”
Incredibly, the Suns had only a single staffer hired for player development when the club was set up despite having nearly 50 teenagers on its list. The club’s sports psychologists and mental health experts are now over and above the four full-time welfare staffers.
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Evans also confirmed the Suns would sit down with coach Stuart Dew to discuss a contract extension over the summer as the club continues its progress towards retaining its key coaches and staff despite the setback in Martin’s trade request.
“To bring in Brandon Ellis, Hugh Greenwood and Zac Smith was great, we had 14 player extensions through the course of the year and to get the extension for Ben King was a really good shot in the arm. We have a very small group of players uncontracted (in the short-term future) and we think we have got the group to take this club forward,” he said.
“That is not saying we won’t lose a player or two but we wanted to stabilise the club and get players to commit and we are moving in that direction.”
GOLD COAST LONG-TERM DEALS
2024: Brandon Ellis, Jarrod Witts, Jack Bowes, David Swallow
2023: Hugh Greenwood, Alex Sexton, Rory Thompson, Izak Rankin, Ben King, Will Brodie,
Ben Ainsworth, Touk Miller, Jez McLennan, Peter Wright
Originally published as Jack Martin is leaving, but Suns believe list exodus is over
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