After more than seven years off the football field, former first-class Victorian cricketer Zak Evans is fearlessly forging a new path after completing his first AFL pre-season with the Gold Coast SUNS.

With only five VFL games under his belt since joining the club in 2024 as a Category B Rookie, Evans notes his journey transitioning from a cricketer to a footballer has come with a combination of challenges.

“It's definitely had its challenges, but I've loved every second of it,” Evans said.

“I guess the picking up and re-learning of skills that you once had, and the changing of my body.

“The difference between a cricket body and a footy body is pretty big. The muscle groups you use are very different, the movements and everything like that are all different and so it's sort of just [about] adapting the body to that.

“It’s obviously taken its time but I feel pretty good rolling in [to the season] now and it's been nice to get through my first pre-season as an AFL player.”

Before joining the SUNS VFL campaign in late 2024, the 24-year-old last played competitive football at school level in 2018, turning to SUNS teammate Sam Clohesy for inspiration on joining the club as a mature-age player.

Clohesy joined the SUNS as Pick 4 in the 2023 AFL Rookie Draft after spending several seasons refining his craft at Werribee in the VFL.

“[I’ve learned] it doesn't have to be the traditional route to get that opportunity and to go well,” Evans said.

“It’s been great to watch Sammy and even talking with him about how he went about it at first and his journey has been really good.”

Evans has been training hard with SUNS High Performance Manager Alex Rigby and keeping a close eye on senior SUNS to help shape his game. 

“Riggers has worked pretty well with me just trying to get myself to be a football player,” Evans said.

“I’ve been playing down back and working with the likes of Sean Lemmens and Wil Powell, you know blokes like that, those experienced campaigners that have been here for a while now just learning their traits and the way they approach their training.

“Everyone’s obviously different but [I’ve been] identifying what works for them and now what works for me. I’ve sort of just been observing.”

The club’s VFL season kicks off against the Casey Demons in Melbourne on Saturday, March 29.