Former Southport, Palm Beach Currumbin and Burleigh gun Tai Hayes drafted by Brisbane Lions
Gold Coast collected a plethora of talent in its latest dominant draft haul but did the Suns let the next Dayne Zorko slip through the cracks in the process? The club will be hoping history doesn't repeat after a late developing Gold Coaster was snapped up by rivals Brisbane. Details inside
They may have secured another incredible draft hand through the academy, but the Gold Coast Suns may have let the next Dayne Zorko slip through their fingers
Former Suns Academy player and Gold Coast local Tai Hayes was snapped up by the Brisbane Lions with pick No.44 in the draft on Thursday.
Zorko famously was a Gold Coast local who was overlooked by the Suns who traded him to their Queensland rivals after taking him in the 2011 draft as a Queensland zone selection.
The former Lions captain broke the mould of the standard AFL career after waiting until after his 23rd birthday to make his debut.
Like Zorko, Hayes is a late developer in the sport and the 21-year-old has thrived in recent seasons with Palm Beach Currumbin at QAFL level and with the Southport Sharks in the VFL this year.
"He has come from nowhere, he got a spot on the Southport list late February, early March and then debuted in round 2 and never looked back," his dad Andrew Hayes said.
"Tai was always on the smaller side, he was a late developer, in terms of his junior days, he had a really beautiful left-foot kick and would read the play really well but was never a big body.
"I think he’s now 6’3, he’s developed unbelievably physically in the last 18 months and he’s got to take all the credit.
"His work rate with Southport this year and the opportunity the coaches of Southport gave him has really driven Tai.
"I got coach him in his younger days but he’s got to take the majority of the credit for going a different pathway.
"He got dropped from the under-16 Suns Academy, I would put that down to his size because a lot of the other boys were more developed physically than what he was.
"But he’s stuck with it and now he’s on an AFL list so who knows where the ceiling is."
Hayes previously spent time at the Burleigh Bombers as a junior - the club where his dad is now the senior coach.
Andrew was over the moon to see his son realise his dream on Thursday night.
"It’s really surreal to be honest, I’m getting a bit emotional about it," he said.
"Obviously from Burleigh we had Zeke (Uwland), Jai (Murray) and Beau (Addinsall) and they knew they were going to be drafted so it was a matter of where they are going to land.
"But with Tai and his journey we were given indication that there were clubs that were interested but I also know the process.
"So we felt that he wasn’t going to get drafted until his name was actually called out.
"When his name was called out to Brisbane, it was a mixture of shock and excitement. I am still buzzing. It is just an unbelievable effort by Tai and we’re just super proud of him."
BURLEIGH BOMBERS FOOTY FACTORY
Lachie Gulbin is the latest in the growing list of Burleigh Bombers juniors to debut for the Gold Coast Suns, with the club’s golden generation of juniors on the cusp of taking the AFL world by storm.
Gulbin and Leo Lombard were the previous current Bombers graduates on Gold Coast’s list while a conveyor belt of talent that includes academy stars Zeke Uwland, Jai Murray, Beau Addinsall, Lachlan Cramp, Jonah Harris and Zai Millane all come from Burleigh.
All have been mentored by coach Stu Harrison throughout the crucial years in their development.
“I’m incredibly proud of the boys, just knowing how much hard work we did,” Harrison said.
Gulbin’s journey to the AFL was far from easy, facing multiple setbacks that could have dented his dreams of making it to the top level.
He was often overlooked for various school rep teams but Harrison knew the talent was there and continued to support him at club level.
“Lachie was that kid who as a coach, you loved. He just kept working, he would never quit,” he said.
“You could tell all these things were body blows to him.
“He’d come back to training and I’d just wrap an arm around him and just say ‘you control you, they control what they do, you can’t control that. Let’s get back to what we do and what you do better than anyone else is put your head down and go again’.”
One of the Harrison’s highlights from his time coaching the group included going through the under-12’s season undefeated, pushing the players to approach the game with the professionalism needed to make it to the top.
“They were incredibly driven, a lot of it is in the messaging that you give the group but these boys didn’t want to be treated like young boys, they wanted to be treated as young men,” Harrison said.
“They took every opportunity as an opportunity to gain and strengthen their skills, which they did.
“When you’ve got a group of good kids, training got very contested, we’d have to pull a couple aside and have a little chat about making sure we’re all in it together.
“We started doing all these things that just remind each other the reason we are so good is that we’ve got so many of us willing to do the extra work.”
Harrison moved to the Gold Coast over a decade ago after living in Melbourne and made it his mission to change the way the sport was perceived in the region.
“One of my concerns was that football in the Gold Coast was going to be fairly disappointing,” he said.
“I knew the challenges. I thought I’m not going to be someone who complains about things, so the first thing I did was I went down too the Bombers and immediately started coaching then went onto the committee and became vice president these days as well.
“We tried to create our own culture at Burleigh Bombers that was all about encouraging competitiveness but at the same time, absolutely nurturing every player.”
