A more meticulous approach to his preparation and an increased work ethic has begun to pay dividends in the second half of the season for Brandon Matera, with Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade praising the creative forwards ability to respond after being challenged.
 
In the last six weeks, the West Australian has started to reap the rewards for his increased desire to work, culminating in one of the best performances of his career against Port Adelaide last weekend.
 
Matera collected an equal career-high 26 possessions (13 contested), nine marks, six inside 50s, five clearances and 631 metres of gained territoy to be arguably the SUNS best contributor in the loss to the Power.
 
A candid Eade revealed that Matera simply wasn’t working hard enough earlier in the year, but the wheel has turned in his favour of late as the 23-year-old has continued to dot his i’s and cross his t’s in the latter stages of the season.
 
“I’ve been super impressed (with his work ethic) and full credit to him, because he was challenged earlier in the year,” Eade told SUNS TV.
 
“To put a finer point on it, I didn’t think he worked hard enough. I was going to say he was a bit lazy, but I’m probably right as well.
 
“He just didn’t work hard enough and probably thought just talent was going to get him through and there’s not very many players that that happens to.
 
“But he’s responded in the right way and there was probably a period of four to five weeks where he wasn’t getting the rewards, but the last six, seven weeks or so he’s been fantastic.
 
“He's continued that work ethic – he’s doing extras at training and I think he realises the value of working hard.”
 
Matera is finishing the year as good as anyone inside Metricon Stadium. His last six weeks have been one of the most productive patches of his five-year career, with Matera averaging 21 possessions and 3.8 inside 50s per game to become more influential on games.
 
The polished left footer has got to more contests and become far more damaging on transition to help set up scoring opportunities. His late season resurgence sets him up for a big summer on the track.