Image courtesy of the Gold Coast Bulletin
There’s been a plenty of moments like this at Gold Coast SUNS headquarters recently.
It starts with an influx of staffers from the AFLQ offices next door. Soon after GC SUNS CEO Travis Auld emerges from his office, leans on a partition and shares a quiet joke with someone in the marketing department. Slowly but surely the room lights up with brilliant red as more GC SUNS employees enter the room in their now distinctively familiar polo shirts. In an instant, the phone calls of the deskbound are cut short. Keyboards fall silent. Pens are downed.
GC SUNS Football Manager Marcus Ashcroft stands in the middle of the room.
To his right, relaxed and comfortable in new surroundings, is one of the game’s modern greats, Gary Ablett. Next to him, arms crossed, is a slightly bashful former Lion, Jared Brennan.
Ashcroft starts with an understatement.
“This is a fairly exciting moment for us,” he says.
He introduces both players to the staff.
“We’re obviously thrilled to have them aboard and we wish them all the best.”
Warm applause follows. Ablett acknowledges it with a wave. Brennan smiles.
Ashcroft’s address then turns to the players.
“We like everyone to meet our new players,” he explains. “At this club the team extends beyond on-field and the Football Department. It includes everyone, no matter what they do. We see ourselves as a family. So this is a really important part of the culture we’re building. So, Gary and Jared, welcome to our club. I think we’d all agree this is a terrific time for everyone involved here.”
Introductions over, the players leave one crowd only to face another. This time it’s the media.
Five months ago there’d be the Gold Coast Bulletin’s AFL writer, Nick Smart, maybe two or three others and a small sprinkling of cameras.
How things have changed.
Today the contingent is a genuine throng. They’ve assembled in the humid, sweat-scented air of the club’s gymnasium. Twelve journalists this time, some from Brisbane, a couple here for the first time. Countless cameramen, the legs of their tripods overlapping. While everyone waits, the banter is the GC SUNS list. How it’s all taking shape. How they’d have to be happy with who’s switched clubs. How the defence looks pretty solid. How the midfield will be first class. How the team may well surprise a few people next year.
Ablett and Brennan eventually enter through a doorway beneath a banner bearing a quote from Mohammed Ali.
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under the lights.
Under the intense glare of today’s media spotlight the irony of the moment isn’t lost.
The questions are mostly predictable. Answers are polite. Ablett speaks convincingly of an exciting new challenge. Brennan follows suit. Both can’t wait for pre-season to start up. The thought of getting back on the training track sparks something in their eyes. Great athletes never rest easily.
With formalities complete, and after a brief photo shoot by the Nerang River, the player’s retreat inside. The coaches are back at work now. Assistant Coach Ken Hinkley talks shop with sports psychologist Jonah Oliver. New Assistant Coach Dean Solomon stares intently at player statistics on a computer screen. Behind him Ashcroft and Senior Coach Guy McKenna are deep in discussion.
Back outside the media scrum splits. Everyone scrambles for a car. Stories need filing. Deadlines need meeting. For the next few days the GC SUNS will vie for headline space with rescued Chilean miners. Arguments about perspective aside, this is the club’s reality now.
Rising behind everything is Gold Coast Stadium, the club’s new home, now just six months shy of completion. It’s two massive stands are still mostly bare concrete, but you can’t help but picture them filled to the rafters with Gold Coasters in new scarves as the stadium’s massive floodlights shine down on twenty two SUNS leaving nothing spare against the reigning premier, Collingwood, or a star-studded Geelong or a ruthless, physically imposing St Kilda.
And for a moment, as the imminence of the big show dawns, you can almost catch the faint hint of a roar.
