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By Michael Whiting
When Gold Coast SUNS midfielder Dion Prestia took his eight-week off-season break, the message was simple – don't come back overweight.
The not-so-subtle dig at the nuggety GC SUNS midfielder hit a chord, with the 19-year-old shedding five kilograms and improving his endurance.
All pre-season, any Gold Coast SUNS player or coach who was asked who had trained the hardest invariably answered 'Dion Prestia'.
And the results have shown, as the former no.9 NAB AFL Draft pick from the Calder Cannons was among the most impressive in both NAB Cup matches on Saturday night.
Despite playing 17 games in his first season, Prestia took the hint from the GC SUNS high performance manager before he hit the off-season break.
"Andrew Weller said 'Dion, don't come back overweight'. That hit home a fair bit," Prestia said.
"I had motivation to be able to run across the ground more and play more game time this year and really compete with the better players in the AFL."
Prestia, 175cm, now tips the scales at 77kg and is striking a canny resemblance to two players in the League on whom he models his game.
Prolific St Kilda midfielder Leigh Montagna (178cm, 76kg) and North Melbourne's champion goalkicking midfielder Brent Harvey (172cm, 75kg) have forged stellar careers with smaller frames, and it's something Prestia is itching to emulate.
Like many of his teammates, Prestia has sliced big chunks of time off his 2km personal best, and if Saturday night's season openers were any indication, he has not lost his ability to find the ball.
"In November at the start of pre-season I did a fair bit of extra running and concentrated on the diet side of things just to lose those extra kilos," he said.
"I found I played a bit heavy last year. I thought I couldn’t run across the ground but my strength was OK. I've kept my strength – I'm a little bit down from last year – but that's all right for me because I'd rather be a little bit lighter."
With Karmichael Hunt's move to the middle, places in the GC SUNS midfield are becoming more prized, but Prestia doesn't want it any other way.
Gold Coast SUNS had a light recovery session at Kurrawa Beach on Monday morning, and with no injuries from the weekend, have the same squad to pick from for Friday night's round two NAB Cup match against Geelong at Metricon Stadium.
"They're the best team in the League, so even though it's the NAB Cup I reckon they'll be taking it serious as well to get ready for round one, so it's going to be a good indicator to see how much we've improved over the pre-season," Prestia said.
