Hugh Greenwood believes the Suns have the young talent to rise up the ladder next season
New Suns recruit Hugh Greenwood believes that the club has the potential to be the next AFL success story following the rapid rise of M1 rivals the Brisbane Lions in 2019.
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NEW Suns recruit Hugh Greenwood believes that the club has the potential to be the next AFL success story following the rapid rise of M1 rivals the Brisbane Lions in 2019.
The Lions, boasting some of the best young talent in the competition, went from finishing 15th from five wins in 2018 to finishing second in 2019 before falling to GWS in the semi-finals.
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After crossing from the Adelaide Crows during the trade period, Greenwood believes that the Suns, who currently boast 12 first round draft selections, are capable of completing a similar fairy-tale.
“The young talent on the list is exciting,” he said.
“You’ve seen teams like Brisbane do it and GWS a few years ago and it doesn’t take long for the switch to flip.
“From the outside looking in, you look at 19 guys re-signing within 12 months so within the four walls, there’s genuine buy in and belief.”
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The 27-year-old former basketballer attracted interest from both Hawthorn and the Lions during the trade period but Greenwood said that the Suns were his top choice to continue his 51-game career.
“When it came down to it, this was at the top of the list so I’m so glad it worked out,” he said.
“I immediately have no regrets.”
A close relationship with Suns development coach Tate Kaesler was also a catalyst in Greenwood choosing the red and yellow.
The two worked closely together at the Crows when nobody ‘wanted a bar’ of Greenwood back in 2016.
“He was one of the ones who was really patient with me,” he said.
“When I got to Adelaide, I couldn’t kick or handball.
“He’s a want to be basketballer so he really took me under my wing and was with me every day helping me to where I wanted to go.
“I owe a lot to him to be in this position now so to go full circle is awesome.”
Greenwood also hopes to be one of the key figures behind the Sun’s resurgence, flagging his interest in an inside midfielder role to assist the Suns emerging on-ball brigade.
“I want to help them develop and get to where they want to be,” he said.
“There’s a lot of exciting young talent that haven’t been in the system too long so just sort of helping them out being a bigger body.”
Most of the Suns list returned to training on Monday with vice-captain Touk Miller taking out the two-kilometre time trial.
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