Gold Coast Suns have looked to use Queensland hub as a recruiting mechanism for AFL talent

The current Queensland AFL hub has bolstered Gold Coast’s bid to become a destination club and Suns bosses believe they won’t need to break the bank to do it.

THE current Queensland AFL hub has bolstered Gold Coast’s bid to become a destination club and Suns bosses believe they won’t need to break the bank to do it.

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Gold Coast has become home to the likes of Port Adelaide, Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle recently on the back of COVID-19 restrictions, providing players and staff an extended opportunity to see the popular city and get a greater appreciation of the Suns training and administration base, believed to be one of the best in Australia.

Suns CEO Mark Evans said it would provide the club with an even greater ability to attract quality talent.

“I would think just like our staff and players they will get a good sense of life on the Gold Coast as being an amazing place to train and play football,” Evans said.

Suns coach Stuart Dew (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

“It’s also an amazing place to have that balance in your life and if you like surfing, swimming, walking on the beach or getting away from it, then it’s the ideal place to be an elite athlete.

“If some of them fall in love with the Gold Coast while they are here, we would happily take calls from their agents.”

Evans said the Suns have room to move in their salary cap, something they worked hard to fix in recent years, but believed they wouldn’t need to pay overs to lure a high-end talent anymore.

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“The strongest part of our strategy is to build a culture around a group of players who want to stay and play for the suns,” Evans said.

“We know along the years we will still need to bring players in to compliment that.

“The primary focus is to make sure we have our house in order and people want to stay.

“Pleasingly, Hugh Greenwood, Brandon Ellis and Zac Smith were really keen to join us last year so they are the sorts of players you can have along the way.

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“We do need to do know from the AFL on where they land on list sizes and if there is an adjustment with the salary cap.

“We may not hear about that for some time but key part of the strategy is, collectively, that they want to stay, develop, learn and drive the club forward and compliment that with good characters who want to come from other clubs to join us.

“If there is a reduction in list size there will be players looking for the other opportunity too.”