INAUGURAL Gold Coast SUNS draftees Dion Prestia and Harley Bennell played their first Premiership match alongside each other more than two years ago, it’s only fitting the pair share their second AFL milestone match together as they become the fourth GC SUNS players  to achieve 50 games for the Club.

They join Trent McKenzie, Matt Shaw and David Swallow from the original draft intake to reach the magic number. 

Injuries and inconsistent form impacted Prestia’s debut season, however the zippy midfielder has risen to become one of the club’s most consistent contributors in 2013 . 

On reflection, the combative midfielder said it had been a challenging two-and-a-half years. 

“It was pretty tough, not what I expected, especially in those first two years losing all those games and really getting smashed,” he said.

“It's coming along nicely now. We're starting to win some games and challenge teams so it's getting better.”

Told he would never be good enough to make it due to his smaller size, Prestia said his critics served as his greatest motivation to achieve success in the national competition. 

 “I got told during my draft year to make sure I didn’t give them an excuse to not draft me.”  

Like Prestia, Bennell has been in fantastic form during the back end of the GC SUNS campaign, recapturing the form shown during his break-out 2012 campaign.

 “It feels good to be celebrating my 50^th match alongside Dion in Melbourne and hopefully we can go down there and get the win.”

With a winning culture beginning to build around the club, Prestia said the players were gaining confidence each time they raced through the banner. 

“The first two years was 'let's just get as close as we can, if we win that's a bonus' but now we're pushing for finals and expect to beat teams below us an around us as well. 

“There are a couple of boys that have played 50 and feel at AFL standard now. Once you get the games in, the confidence grows.”