“Our performance has been on the improve compared to the past two years, and we’ve shown over the past month that we are heading in the right direction,” Wilkinson said.
“Definitely improving on the areas we have been focusing on as football club, but we’ve only reached the half-way mark and know how far we still have to go.”
The 186cm strongman endured a testing start to his 2013 campaign, playing in the opening rounds of the season before an ankle injury ruled out Wilkinson for five weeks.
And after missing his side’s historic back-to-back victories over Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, the fierce tagger says he’s determined to taste team success for the rest of the season.
“I had that ankle injury which set me back for about five weeks, but I’ve been able to come back for the past few games which has been great because there’s no better feeling than being part of a win,” he said.
“I know I still have to improve on a lot of areas so I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Wilkinson highlighted the club’s season opener against St. Kilda and their most-recent victory over North Melbourne as his most memorable moments for 2013 so far.
“Definitely winning both games I’ve been involved in (St. Kilda and North Melbourne) has been a highlight for me, so hopefully I can have a few more of them,” said Wilkinson.
The former Broadbeach Cats junior has maintained a solid presence in McKenna’s back-six this year, with his relentless chase for the contested football having been a significant contributor for why the Gold Coasters sit second to the Sydney Swans in the League’s total tackle count (765).
The next challenge, Wilkinson says, is to produce a total four quarter effort from the first bounce to the final siren after the SUNS faded off in the final stages of their heavily-contested matches against Hawthorn and Geelong.
“Consistency is the key, I’m not too sure whether we’ve played four quarters of football yet,” Wilkinson said.
“The top teams will continue to put us away if we step back so we have to just continue to get a consistency with our structures and ensure we do that for the entirety of the match.
“If we can do that then I’m sure good things are going to come.”
