Gold Coast SUNS List Manager, Scott Clayton, says it comes as no surprise that rival clubs have interests trying to lure star midfielders Jaeger O’Meara and Dion Prestia to their clubs when they come out of contract.
 
Both O’Meara and Prestia are contracted until the end of 2016.
 
Clayton believes the pair’s leadership attributes are critical in the continued growth the SUNS are seeking in that department; an area Gold Coast has focused on developing in 2015.
 
The SUNS appointment of renowned high performance specialist, Justin Cordy, is a strong sign of the club’s intent to get that area as strong as possible, according to Clayton.
 
An appointment the veteran list manager says is indicative of the clubs direction moving forward, and something that is attractive to players.
 
“Of course (we are aware of the interest in O’Meara). He is a star. He’s an absolute elite player, as is Dion Prestia,” Clayton told NAB AFL Trade Radio on Monday.
 
“Their leadership at our place is going to be really important, they’re starting to get into that zone too. We’ve seen our leadership grow so much this year in regards to the change we have affected across our group.
 
“We want to show that we’re moving in the right direction. We’ve made a big change in conditioning.
 
“Clearly with our injury count last year - which was horrific - that we’ve got that part of our business right. To that point Justin Cordy’s arriving who is cutting edge in that space.
 
“So we’re very confident that we’ve got a great platform to go forward and they will be part of it.”
 
Clayton went on to tell NAB AFL Trade Radio that Gold Coast has re-signed all the current listed players they had set out to sign this year.
 
“It’s worth noting though that in any given year, a third of your list is out of contract, normally around three-year deals,” Clayton said.
 
“We’ve re-contracted 11 players in this period, of all the players that we want to go forward with, have re-contracted so we’re comfortable in that area.”