Suns in no hurry to fill void up forward
THE Gold Coast Suns have missed out on completing their wish list with a key forward and will not rush to fill the void in the upcoming draft.
A power forward to replace the outbound Charlie Dixon would have been the final piece of the puzzle for the Suns who ended the trade period having also farewelled Harley Bennell and Zac Smith.
But Gold Coast football operations manager Marcus Ashcroft labelled the trade period a success after achieving three of their four objectives.
These included the addition of seasoned West Coast Eagles wingman Matt Rosa, North Melbourne ruckman Dan Currie and draft picks 6, 16, 29 and 56 as well as four future selections.
“Our recruitment team did a fantastic job,” Ashcroft said.
“These guys have been watching talent over the past 12 months and when you’re at the pointy end of it and have to make decisions they were prepared and executed really well.”
Ashcroft confirmed the Suns made a strong play for Carlton forward Andrejs Everitt but admitted they were beaten by yesterday’s trade deadline.
“We thought he could fill a role in our team and he was interested,” Ashcroft said.
“We had some discussions but unfortunately the longer the day went on there were a lot of deals that went on with Carlton and we just weren’t able to get in position in time to get a result.
“In future years we might explore that again.”
Ashcroft said despite the club failing to lure a forward the club would not target the position at the upcoming draft.
“We are still to get down to the finer points but I think in the earlier parts of the draft our philosophy is to go for the best available talent at that point,” Ashcroft said.
Ashcroft said the club was comfortable it still had various options to fill the forward role.
“We have some quality forwards at the moment and also know we have got some quality midfielders who can also play a forward role,” Ashcroft said.
Ashcroft said the future picks provided the club with enormous strength and currency to obtain new talent and retain academy stars like Australian under-17 representative Jack Bowes.
“Guys like Jack we have been tracking for a bit of time and next year we will watch him with interest,” Ashcroft said.