Suns assistant details what it will take for Gold Coast to succeed in AFLW

Triple premiership AFL player Darryl White has laid bare exactly what it will take for the Gold Coast Suns to find success in the AFLW.

TRIPLE premiership AFL player Darryl White has laid bare exactly what it will take for the Gold Coast Suns to find success in the AFLW.

The newly named Suns AFLW assistant coach boasts an extensive and awe-inspiring resume in sport.

The 46-year-old won three premierships with the Brisbane Lions between 2001 and 2003, spent time as a player-coach immediately after retiring, won Australian rules International Cups while coaching with Suns AFLW coach David Lake, mentored underage Northern Territory talents and coached in basketball for 15 years.

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There is one thing above all else he has found separates the best from the rest of the pack.

“At the top level it’s always about work ethic and the way you look after yourself on and off the field,” White said.

“It might not come in your first year, you might be the hardest worker for the first 10 years and it might not come about and then an opportunity arises and there you go.

Gold Coast Suns AFLW coach Darryl White. Picture: Supplied.

“A good example is Joe Ingles in basketball. He was bumming around Europe for 10 or 12 years and now at 32 has signed a new contract (worth Aus $20 million) with NBA club Utah (Jazz) (that will keep him at the club until the end of 2022).

“That was the opportunity he got. The girls we drafted, it’s an opportunity and they would have been so happy but it’s just the start.

“Now it’s about the hard work in pre-season and then how cacheable you are, how much we can learn from you and how much you can learn from us before putting it on the footy field.”

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White will be joined by former North Melbourne AFL captain Andrew Swallow as and assistant of the Suns women’s program between his work with the club’s men.

“The great thing about the women is the resources aren’t quite there compared to the men so you can jump in and you can actually have your hands all over the different elements of the program and have a lot more input,” Swallow said.

“It was a really good opportunity for my coaching development to be able to do that and work with Lakey and have someone who could come in and give him a chop out. That was probably what attracted me to the role.”