The key trio were named on the senior team and are will make their first AFL appearances for 2013 against the GWS Giants in Canberra tomorrow afternoon, and while the players have yet to run under the banner for the GC SUNS during the opening premiership rounds, Lovell is confident the team’s new faces are more than ready to take on the Giants.
“We have three new players this week in Tommy Lynch, Danny Stanley and Trent McKenzie and we believe it really steels us up a bit,” said Lovell.
“All three have been in really good form through the NEAFL so we’re excited about bringing them back in.”
Lovell said it was important for Lynch, Stanley and Trent to gain valuable match fitness and not be rushed back into the senior team – as had been the case in recent years given the level of maturity and lack of experience within the playing group.
“All three are really important to us so we wanted to bring them back with some real conditioning and form under their belt so we could give them every opportunity to succeed and play throughout the rest of the year,” Lovell said.
With the playing group set to arrive in Canberra this afternoon, Lovell said senior coach Guy McKenna and the high performance team were confident the side were ready to fire against the Giants.
“We feel as though we have done everything we can to prepare them mentally and physically to play,” said Lovell.
“We’ve prepared well to play GWS and are confident we can go and win the game… it’s going to be a great rivalry for us going forward.”
The Gold Coasters dominated the corresponding match against the Giants in Canberra last year before fading badly during the final quarter to gift GWS their first victory in the AFL.
