The fearless 18-year-old midfielder is likely to continue pushing his case for early selection in SUNS Round 2 NAB Cup match against North Melbourne this Saturday, after his impressive AFL debut in the SUNS pre-season opener against the Brisbane Lions last weekend at Metricon Stadium.
The super-talented teenaged showed the GC SUNS faithful a sneak peak at what they can expect from the former Launceston junior, with senior coach Guy McKenna crediting Longeran’s stoppage work and attack on the football in his post-match media conference.
Still buzzing with excitement regarding his new role at the SUNS, Lonergan told goldcoastfc.com.au that he was looking forward to engaging with the GC SUNS first-year members at future Club events.
“We recently had our 2013 Season Launch and had over 1,000 members and fans turned up in force to see us in action ahead of the NAB Cup opener against Hawthorn and Brisbane,” said Lonergan.
“It was great to meet with all the 2013 members inside the Southport Shark’s events centre for the special members-only Guernsey presentation… I can’t wait to see all the 2013 first-year members in Townsville tomorrow that dressed in red cheering us on against the Kangaroos.”
GC SUNS General Manager of Marketing, Community and Fan Development, Kelly Ryan, said the decision to announce Lonergan as the Club’s First Year Members Ambassador would provide new members the opportunity to build a relationship with an established AFL player.
“Having Jesse on board the SUNS First Year Members Program is going to be a great opportunity for some of our new members to familiarise themselves with one of our talented players,” said Ryan.
“We had a fantastic show of support from last week’s Massive Membership sale, where more than 430 new members jumped on board to support the boys as the strive for sustainable success through the 20-ONE-3 vision.”
But with the GC SUNS current membership tally down from 2013 membership figures, Ryan putting forth a call for action to all fans of the Club to jump on board and support the team through a membership capacity.
“It really is important for all GC SUNS fans and supporters who are yet to renew their 2012 memberships, or are thinking of joining, to jump on board now so that we can kick start our AFL Season opener against St. Kilda at Metricon Stadium with 20,000 proud voices behind the team.”
