Dion Prestia’s breakout year in the midfield and defence has been recognised by senior coaching officials at the Southport Sharks Event Centre tonight, with the nuggetty on-baller finishing runner-up in the Gold Coast SUNS 2013 Club Champion.
The 20-year-old midfielder enjoyed a superb campaign this season, averaging 25 disposals in 20 senior matches – equalling the amount of games played in his debut season.
After a short stint in defence, Prestia emerged as a key member of the SUNS super-talented midfield team, working alongside Harley Bennell and Rising Star Jaeger O’Meara and offloading the pressure on Gary Ablett as the star Captain who was freed up to spend more time up forward.
Polling 213 votes, Prestia finished just 47 votes shy of a player considered by many to be the codes best ever.
The pocket rocket showed he’ll be hard to beat for years to come, after inking a multi-year contract extension with the Club in June.
An appetite for hard work, GC SUNS assistant coach Andy Lovell told goldcoastfc.com.au Prestia had taken significant strides in his improvement as a future star of the competition.
“Dion has got a great work ethic, wins the balls inside and has the ability to work well at either ends of the ground,” Lovell said.
“All the performance indicators show he has had significant improvement and impact in games this year.”
With Prestia ranking in the top echleon for the SUNS in disposals (2nd), tackles (3rd), rebound 50s (2nd), inside-50s (3rd) and clearances (2nd), it’s hard to argue with Lovell’s sentiments.
Despite being a classy finisher around goals, Lovell said it was Prestia’s ability to stay composure under extreme pressure that had him most impressed this season.
“He’s a great composure of the ball in heavy traffic and feeds our outside runners really well,” he said.
“He also had 17 shots on goal and kicked 10, so that’s a really good effort for a midfielder.”
Unlucky to miss out on an All-Australian nomination, Lovell said Prestia’s brilliant season would pay dividends next year.
“He’s done all the right things and really set himself up for future success.”
