Lynch buoyed by youth

Rising talent may convince captain to extend stay

TOM Lynch is still undecided on his future but has revealed the growth in Gold Coast’s youngest talent could hold the key to keeping the captain at the Suns.

Lynch is confident he has overcome the knee injury that kept him out of the club’s past three games, declaring that he will be fit to play against Geelong in Gold Coast’s return to Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

The 25-year-old key forward used the team’s break in the week leading up to last week’s bye to return home to see family in Victoria where clubs including Richmond and Hawthorn are eager to sign the free agent for 2019 and beyond. Lynch said he didn’t use the time to mull over his future following a disruptive first half of the season spent largely on the road.

“To be honest I was focused on my knee,” Lynch said.

“That is all I could think about coming in to training and I narrowed my focus on to that.

“I was pretty happy getting back to a bit of warm weather (in Queensland).

“It got a bit cold down (in Melbourne).

“The club and I are comfortable with where it’s at. We knew the first half of the year was going to be full of travel and was going to be pretty tough.

“It’s been a reset for us and we are back in to some normality.”

Lynch has been clear that the club’s ability to improve their performances would play a huge role in his decision to remain at the Suns and the 199cm tall said it was the growth of the first and second year players in 2018 that had excited him most.

“If you look across the board at guys like Ben Ainsworth, his last month has been super,” Lynch said.

“He is playing his best footy and Jack Bowes has really improved. There are some good signs there.”

Lynch said this week felt like a fresh start to both his and the club’s season after battling knee soreness in the weeks leading in to his absence.

“It was a little sore for a few weeks,” Lynch said.

“It got to a point where it needed a rest and I couldn’t keep going otherwise it would have hindered me in the back half (of the season).”