Suns reveal plans over new hunt for talent after injury

Gold Coast have revealed their plans to fill the void left by Mitch Riordan following his season-ending ACL injury.

GOLD Coast won’t rush to pull the trigger on a new recruit to fill the void left by Mitch Riordan following his season-ending ACL injury.

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With the 20-year-old midfielder set for a long-stint on the sidelines, the Suns have the ability to place Riordan on the long-term injury or inactive list and replace him with another player.

Gold Coast already have 52 players on their books, including Irishman Luke Towey and Papua New Guinea international Hewago Paul Oea, on the back of the concessions granted to the club by the AFL.

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The extended list means a straight swap for Riordan may not be so simple as the club tries to fit in all of the players in its salary cap.

Gold Coast mid-season draftee Mitch Riordan (left) at Suns training. Picture: Supplied.

“Technically, we do have some options,” Suns football manager Jon Haines said.

“We can put Mitch on the long term injury list, or what they call the inactive list.

“There is an element of it becoming a funding issue as well. we have have 52 on our list at the moment so it’s a fairly large one.

“Consideration about whether we take advantage fo the options available to us will be done and we will discuss that at the right time.

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“We are pretty comfortable with where we are at right now.

“We never say never but we will assess it as we go along depending on how things evolve over the next bit of time.”

Riordan was picked up by the Suns with pick 2 at last year’s mid-season draft has impressed since arriving in May.

Riordan showed his ability in the contest through three games in the NEAFL while he was building his endurance.\