Gold Coast Suns players taking it upon themselves to prepare for 2020 AFL season

It’s the AFL off-season but the Gold Coast Suns players are using the scheduled down time to find a way to lift themselves off the foot of the ladder. Here are the five training environments, from the Glitter Strip to the U.S and South Korea, Gold Coast players have used to get the jump on their rivals.

IT’S the AFL off-season but the Gold Coast Suns players are using the scheduled down time to find a way to lift themselves off the foot of the ladder.

The Suns have conducted their own fitness programs in recent weeks in the hope of getting the edge over their rivals and return to pre-season training ready to build a foundation that will lift their performances after numerous bleak seasons.

Players have met in small groups of teammates to do their own sessions in their home states and linked up with high performance identities from the Gold Coast to the U.S.

The likes of Lachie Weller, Sam Day, David Swallow, Ben Ainsworth and the recently delisted Harrison Wigg trained with Joey Hayes at his Ultimate Sports Performance gym at Miami last week.

Gold Coast Suns player Lachie Weller training at Ultimate Sports Performance. Picture: Supplied.

The group traded the enormous airconditioned gym at their multimillion-dollar training and administration base lined with mirrors for the facility nicknamed “the pit”, a small one-room precinct where no reflections are seen but is full of training equipment used by NFL stars in the U.S

“In the off season everyone is working hard and it’s about finding those ways to get a bit of an edge over your opposition,” Suns tall forward Sam Day said.

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“AFL is probably one of the most all around sports in the world so you could probably argue that you need to be as good as you can in all assets of fitness.”

Ainsworth said everything they were doing had a direct link to the movements they conducted on field.

“It’s good to do something different and it’s also good to do something that is in line with football movements,” Ainsworth said.

“It’s good to correlate that into our training.

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“All the boys dug in and it’s good to get something done in the off-season and have some fun while we are doing it. Joey put us through the wringer really and it was enjoyable.”

Weller has a long-running relationship with Hayes and organised the session for the group.

The 23-year-old Gold Coast halfback first linked up with Hayes when he was playing in the under-16 Gold Coast Stingrays representative team.

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“He still says it is the hardest pre-season he has done to this day,” Hayes said.

“He went on to make the All-Australian team that year. Everything we are doing currently is skill-based fitness, not just running laps.

“It’s also based around having fun so if the surf is good then we surf, not train.”

Suns midfielder Touk Miller has used his time off to learn from international fitness mentors.

Miller did a training camp with the California-based Aspiros, conducting unique drills that saw him wrestling, chasing frisbees, improving his running form and much more.

The 23-year-old also did a half-marathon with mother in Melbourne and did some Crossfit in South Korea.

Midfield partner Jack Bowes has been in Byron Bay training with One-on-One Football, owned by former AFL player and Suns academy coach Andrew Raines, while most of the team have been getting their mileage up by running with Gold Coast Run Co.

Bowes, Darcy Macpherson and Will Brodie have also spent time at F45 Carrara alongside St Kilda’s Jade Gresham.