Suns could plot to poach star athletes
SUNS chief executive Mark Evans doesn’t mind the idea of Olympic gold medal hurdler Sally Pearson bursting down the wing with Sherrin in hand for the Gold Coast.
“She would be pretty good,” Evans said.
“If you could get the ball to her I don’t think anyone could catch her.”
A move to football by Pearson may be far fetched but Evans has declared he will be prepared to poach elite athletes from various sports who could make the Suns a premiership force when they enter the AFLW in 2020.
“Our primary focus will be to grow the girls within our own academy but we do have the Commonwealth Games at Metricon Stadium so I’m hoping there are athletes from all sports who fall in love with what the Gold Coast lifestyle is and who might like to try AFL football,” he said.
“It might be some swimmers or maybe we can get some from other sports to cross codes.”
Gold Coast are three years away from entering the competition but have already cemented a talent pathway to ensure they are ready to match it with the best in their maiden season.
The Suns will play GWS and the Brisbane Lions in a 10week winter series from 2018 to provide the academy players with similar playing conditions to what they will meet in 2020.
Evans said the games would be run between the QAFL competition so that the quality of the local football competition wasn’t affected while players wouldn’t be forced to choose between club and representative matches.
It comes on the back of a strong rise in participation on the Gold Coast that welcomed 16 new youth girls teams and two senior women’s teams.
The Sunsets representative team also won their third straight under-17 state championship this year.
Georgia Eller has been part of the Suns academy for the past three years and is one of the most highly touted players that will be eligible for the draft in 2020.
The 16-year-old former soccer goal keeper’s brother, Fraser, also went through the Suns academy before returning to soccer to link up with National Premier Leagues Queensland team Gold Coast United.
The skilled forward said making the team for next year’s winter series was her main priority as she works towards making it to the AFLW.
“We are so lucky and it is really exciting,” Eller said.
“Last year there was nothing for us but we now have this pathway which is great.”
The Suns will host talent identification days before the series on the Gold Coast (January 20), Townsville (March 3) and Cairns (March 24).
AFLW chief executive Nicole Livingstone said the winter series was important to help players remain in Queensland.
“It’s really important for the northern states ... to have that competition so when we get to season number three the girls are very much ready and raring to go,” Livingstone said.
“The VFLW starts to kick off around that May period of time so we are trying to make sure it mirrors that.”
She said they didn’t want girls to have pressure to leave their home base.