All Australian Defender Nathan Bock and exciting young defender Nathan Krakouer have signed with the Gold Coast SUNS for its inaugural AFL season.

Bock, 27, has played 113 games for the Adelaide Crows and won the club’s Best & Fairest Award (Malcolm Blight Medal) in 2008. Krakouer, 22, has played 40 AFL games and was recruited from Claremont in Western Australian by Port Power in 2006.

Gold Coast SUNS CEO Travis Auld said the announcement of the two players represents an exciting time for the Club as the next stage of the list build in readiness for the 2011 launch of the club in the AFL.

“This is the start of an amazing period as we start to add experienced players to our team. We will make announcements over the next month as we finalise arrangements with players we have targeted,” he said.

“We are confident we have a compelling offer to make and we have the Gold Coast community to thank for supporting us this year and making it possible to now go out and confidently chase players who are available.

“It is also important to state that we have the utmost respect for the competition and have conducted this process in line with AFL rules and regulations.”

Bock and Krakouer have agreed to three-year contracts and will join the Gold Coast SUNS for pre-season training in November.

Gold Coast SUNS Coach Guy McKenna said both players would add experience and excitement to the SUNS backline which boasts a number of raw talented youngsters who have established themselves in the TAC Cup and VFL seasons.

“Bock is a very well respected, quality AFL player who has the experience from a very well organised and respected club such as Adelaide,” he said.

“In our mix of uncontracted players we certainly wanted a tall defender. Bock has the ability to play on big power forwards and also have an attacking mindset with good skills and decision making.
“Along with his defensive qualities he can set up play from the backline. He has a bold style of play which suits the brand and values of our club. These attributes are vital to our overall requirements.

“He trains, plays and rehabilitates with great professionalism and knowledge and we are looking forward to welcoming Bock to the Gold Coast.”

McKenna said Krakouer is a speedy defender with his best football clearly in front of him.
“He has elite AFL attributes including incredible speed, agility and kicking,” he said.

“We believe with more experience, development and opportunity he can develop into a very exiting AFL player, playing in varied positions from defence, wing and forward.
Nathan has also indicated a real desire to deliver leadership across the board to fellow indigenous players currently on our list.”

Bock said he was looking forward to the challenge of playing a leadership role at a developing club.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for me to be able to bring all that I’ve learned to a new place. It’s a very talented playing group here and they’re managed by some quality people so I’m really looking forward to getting up here to put in a big pre-season.”

Krakouer said he was looking forward to a fresh start at a new club.

“I have a new footballing home to put all my hard work into practice. I’m really looking forward to getting started.”

NB: The Gold Coast SUNS has the ability to recruit one uncontracted player from existing AFL clubs under the list build provisions granted by the AFL list build sub-committee.

The Gold Coast SUNS policy remains to not discuss individual players or its recruitment process for uncontracted players during the negotiation period. Official announcements on un-contracted players will be made when arrangements have been finalised.

Click here to view Nathan Bock's profile.

Click here to view Nathan Krakouer's profile.

Tune into the extended player interviews at 3pm this afternoon on the GC SUNS website -  click here.