Amid a raft of changes over the off-season at the Austworld Centre, one area of the SUNS football department has been bolstered significantly.

Gold Coast’s newly-developed Personal Excellence department, a revamp of the previous player welfare program, will be one of the most heavily resourced in the AFL when the club looks to add three more positions to the team before the 2019 season rolls around. 

Led by Shaun Hart, Head of Personal Excellence, the current five-person team promises to support the broader leadership and character development objectives of the club while also having a specific role in career transition for the playing group. 

“Personal Excellence is a lifestyle built on relationships and a daily pursuit of goals,” Hart told SUNS TV.

“We want to develop our young men into champion people off the field as well as on the field.

“We want to do that by making sure that we build incredible personal character, great professional habits and professional character that ultimately makes our football club one of the best teams in the competition.” 

Hart is joined in the Personal Excellence panel by sports psychologists Tristan Coulter and Cliff Mallett as well as coordinators Matt Kennedy and Darren Rumble.

Kennedy played for the Brisbane Bears/Brisbane Lions from 1990-2001 before working at the Lions for six years under Leigh Matthews while owning and operating his own gym and boxing business across the road from the Gabba.

He then moved to the Gold Coast to work for the SUNS in their inception as rehabilitation coach, then worked in a similar role at the Southport Sharks before rejoining the SUNS in October.

Rumble joins the SUNS from the WA Football Commission where he worked as the Wellbeing Coordinator, mentoring 16 to 18-year-olds in the WA Academy pathways.

 “I think what drives me is I love helping people,” Rumble told SUNS TV.

“I love supporting people and I love the reward that I personally get from trying to help people succeed. 

“I don’t think there’s a better feeling than seeing that.”

With his new team assembled, Hart is hoping his department can use their collective experience and expertise to provide the playing group with guidance in all aspects of life. 

The program promises to provide tertiary education opportunities to the players as well as support with employment industry groups and family and partner engagement.

Hart is the perfect person to lead this new initiative, going on a journey as a player himself, turning three wooden spoons into three premierships through hard work and perseverance.

“My desire and my passion is to pass on everything I’ve learnt to the players at the Gold Coast SUNS to ensure that they can also become a great football club and great football team,” Hart said. 

“I think ultimately our goal is to ensure that with the behaviours and the actions that are required day-to-day, the personal excellence and the pursuit of personal excellence becomes something that’s instinctive to our playing group.

“That will lead to great character, great habits and ultimately finals football and winning premierships.”