He’s the man in charge of a fresh list with a blank slate, but SUNS coach Stuart Dew isn’t subscribing to any external predictions about how his side will perform this season.
It would seem a daunting task to unite a group with 25 new faces across players and coaches, however it hasn’t taken long for the group to form a tight bond according to Dew.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast on Wednesday morning, Dew said he was particularly impressed with how seamlessly the club’s draft crop had contributed to the integration of the group.
“In terms of coming in I think there’s a real energy around the whole playing group and I think they’ve added to it,” Dew said.
“Sometimes draftees come in and they look like they’re a little bit far away – and that’s okay we understand that.
“But I think all the boys we’ve got in this year, not just those three, look like they’re really capable AFL footballers.”
SEN’s Garry Lyon mentioned Dew’s former club Hawthorn and drew comparisons between the SUNS’ draft haul and the Hawks’ 2004 draft which saw them snare Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis within the first seven picks.
While Dew joked he’d love to have his prized recruits enjoy the same success as those three stars of the game, he admitted he was excited to see what the talented draft crop could do on the field in 2019.
“We expect them to play at some point, when that is I’m not sure but there’s a fair bit of class about them,” he said.
“Ben King, Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine are obviously the three that everyone talk about.
“Their ability to come in and work hard and be humble, I think they won the respect of the group literally in their first week with the way they went about it and that was the pleasing thing.”
Dew was also quizzed on the status of the club’s leadership group, but said he and the coaches were taking a back seat in that department.
“We’ve been working probably in the last six months around making sure it’s player-driven and driven in the right way,” Dew said.
“(It’s about) making sure they’re picking leaders for the right reasons and not just who the best players are.”
“We put a fair bit of work into guys exploring what actually is a good leader and what are they about and what do they need to provide for the group and football club so we’re down the path on that,” he said.
The coach has also left the door open to continue the co-captaincy model, or abolish it for a sole captain with possible vice-captains.
“Probably in a couple of weeks we’ll have our leadership group and that will be determined by the players and then the next step will be the captaincy,” Dew said,
“We’re certainly open to whether we go down the path of one or co-captains.
“I think in the current environment having a couple of captains does have its benefits particularly when players have to travel to different functions as captain we can share the load in that sense.”
