The Gold Coast SUNS are in the midst of their pre-season camp, but unlike other clubs, the focus of this program is to fine tune Rodney Eade’s game plan and football philosophy, rather than placing a large emphasis on conditioning.
Accountability protocols and determining who will be in the leadership group and how this nominated group will operate is also on the agenda during the three-day camp.
Eade has previously stated his belief that the SUNS ability to train in the heat and humidity on a daily basis has had substantial benefits on the playing group's conditioning.
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And with the season looming, Eade says it's imperative that leadership meetings are conducted to establish standards within the club.
“You need to have meetings for leadership. We want to work out as a team what behaviours they want to hold each other account to. We want to go through our game plan,” Eade told reporters at the Bond University Aquatic Centre on Friday.
“We just thought it was a good opportunity to get that down this week. It’s a down week, that was part of our planning, part of our tapering. So, we’ve decided to have three locations on the Gold Coast to do that.
“It's mainly meetings and relationship building (during the pre-season camp), we think those three days will be a real plus for us.”
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Since arriving at the SUNS in November, Eade has driven a strong expectation of preparing, training and living by a high set of standards.
The new coach explained the players will vote on who they think deserves to be in the club's leadership group and the voting will determine how many players will be included in the club's formal leadership personnel.
“We’ve already worked out expectations and the players have driven that. The players will vote and we’ll collate those figures and probably by next week we’ll know what our leadership group looks like,” Eade said.
“The players will vote and generally with experience there is always a demarcation line somewhere in that voting system. It might be five, it might be six, it might be seven people - That tends to work itself out.”
Since arriving on the Gold Coast in mid-November, former Sydney Swans premiership star Nick Malceski has had a profound impact on the young playing group at Metricon Stadium.
Nick Malceski at the Bond University recovery session on Friday morning
When asked if he thought the prized recruit would be included in the SUNS leadership group, Eade quipped the 2014 All-Australian had been invaluable in his guidance around the club and deserves a spot in the club's leadership group. Although, regardless of his selection, Malceski will continue to lead.
“You would think that he would be in the leadership group because of his experience, but certainly what he’s shown since he’s been here.
“His voice on the track, his ability to communicate and educate players is first rate.
“But if he’s not (included in the leadership group), I mean leadership group is just a title anyway, it gives them the confidence to be able to have a voice, but we think Nick and those older players will be able to actually carry that anyway.”
