Just a week on the job and newly appointed development coach Josh Fraser says the growth in leadership from the playing group has been significant in the past twelve months.

“I’ve definitely seen a step up in leadership, with much of our young core now beginning to drive the club forward,” he said.

The No. 1 draft pick in the 1999 AFL National Draft, Fraser added 16 games to the 202 games played at Collingwood in his two seasons on the Gold Coast, spending the bulk of his short tenure on the Gold Coast fast-tracking the development of young ruckmen Zac Smith, Charlie Dixon and Tom Nicholls.

Returning as a development coach, Fraser is now in charge of developing the GC SUNS young brigade of players, confident he has plenty to offer to the club’s emerging stars after experiencing the highs and lows of senior AFL football.

In his first week, the inaugural Gold Coaster spent quality time with the club’s newest raft of draftees and rookies, and was pleasantly surprised by their eagerness to earn the respect of their fellow teammates.

“Their attitude towards training and conditioning has certainly impressed me most,” Fraser said.

“They’ve come in and really tried to earn the respect of the coaching staff and playing group and are just going about it the right way.

“Character is as big as anything at a football club and they’ve all certainly got that.”

With training now beginning to turn more towards match-simulation activities, Fraser said the main training group would be gearing up for a strong finish ahead of the Christmas break.

“We’ve got a steady build up to training, and that was evident today with conditioning and running gradually increasing.

“Our main focus now is to make sure we maintain that hunger into the New Year.”