Gold Coast’s Senior AFLW Coach David Lake can’t wait to begin his senior coaching journey this weekend.
The SUNS will take on the Brisbane Lions in Round 1 of the QW Winter Series at Metricon Stadium on Saturday as a curtain raiser to the AFL match against Geelong.
Speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon, Lake said it was exciting to see all the pieces coming together.
READ: Winter Series Game 1 Team
“When I arrived here we had Fi and three others,” Lake said.
“It was a little bit daunting, you start to wonder where you’re actually going but now we’ve got 15 who want to play for us so it’s a great opportunity.”
12 of those 15 will play in the QW Winter Series match this weekend, with nine others hoping to press their claims for a spot on the AFLW list for 2020.
“Based on the 15 we’ve got I guess you’ve now got a better understanding of the 15 you need,” Lake said.
“We’ve got a group of 20 to 25 other girls that are training with us at the moment and then there’s other opportunities with girls that are still sitting out there in the rest of Australia.
“How we build the rest of our list, we can shape it up from here but we’ve got a better idea of what it looks like.”
2019 is the second year the SUNS have played in a Winter Series competition, but this year Lake says there’s a different objective.
WATCH: Sally Riley excited for Round 1
“Winter Series last year for the SUNS was a little bit different,” he said.
“There were opportunities for girls who weren’t on lists to play whereas this year we’ve got 15 who are on the list and we’re now looking to put the rest of that list together in a competitive environment.
“The objective for us in this is to connect our group and find out where we’re going.”
The QW Winter Series match kicks off at 4:45pm at Metricon Stadium. Click here for more details.
It’s the first of a four match series which sees the SUNS take on the Brisbane Lions and a WA representative team.
