Last season, Dion Prestia fought vigorously to become a permanent fixture in Gold Coast’s midfield puzzle; now the lauded vice-captain is marked as one of the most exciting ball hunters in the competition.

The quietly-spoken 21-year-old from Melbourne’s inner suburbs hasn’t put a foot wrong since returning from his breakout 2013 campaign.

With an average of 29 possessions per game, Prestia ranks inside the league’s top ten for disposals (7th), classing him in an elite midfield bracket alongside the likes of Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury, Sydney’s Josh Kennedy and, of course, star teammate Gary Ablett.

On Sunday afternoon, he affirmed his status as one of the AFL’s most promising on-ballers with a 35 disposal, six-mark performance against the Western Bulldogs, helping Gold Coast catapult into the top four.

His ability to win his own ball and defend manically when the opposition held possession make him a difficult player to keep a check on.

For Prestia, though, playing alongside Ablett and key midfield partners David Swallow, Jaeger O’Meara and Michael Rischitelli has brought forward plenty of opportunities for the entire on-ball division to run wild, with opposition coaches given the nightmare decision of working out who to try to put the clamps on with a tagger.

“It’s probably my job to get the ball; all the midfields are playing well over the past couple of weeks so if one of the other boys aren’t having a great game we always have a couple that can back us up,” Prestia said.

“It was my turn on the weekend, but it was a team effort and good to get the win against the Bulldogs who played well in the first three quarters.”

At 7-2, mid-season momentum is swinging favourably for Guy McKenna and his experienced coaching panel. 

While Prestia said the team isn’t looking too far ahead, the club’s young leader is adamant the ambition of playing finals is burning stronger than ever within the SUNS change rooms.

"We're winning the games we expect to win," he said.

"We can't really help the draw we get ... seven and two is better than being two and seven. We want to play finals this year so that's our goal."