Going from new recruit to a member of the leadership group in the space of 12 months should give a fair indication of what SUNS' ruckman Jarrod Witts brings to the club environment.

Witts was recruited from Collingwood during the 2016 trade period, and since then has impressed both his peers and coaching staff alike with his demeanour and dedication to his craft, culminating in his promotion. 

“It’s a great honour for myself and something I’m looking forward to taking on,” Witts told SUNS TV.

“There’s been a fair bit of change obviously over the last little period and I think it’s been good.

“There’s a lot more clarity around the club and it’s just positivity flowing through the group so hopefully we can use the momentum that we’ve built in the off-season so far and take it in to the pre-season and season going forward.”

Standing at 209cm, Witts will be looking to contribute more than just his sizeable frame to the SUNS’ engine room in 2018.

“I guess playing in the midfield, (I’ll) just try to add a bit more leadership, building on last year in there and just having the opportunity to sit in (with the leaders),” Witts said.

“I’m going into my seventh year now so if I think that I can add some value in somewhere then I’ll put something forward.

“I’m just looking to give my opinions where I see fit and try to take control of the midfield.”

Witts will be one of the heads of a new-look midfield group this year after the ruckman averaged career-high numbers for disposals (13.3) and hit-outs (37.9) in 2017.

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“I think we’ve created some pretty good combinations last year and we were able to have a bit of success through there,” he said. 

“It’s obviously working with the guys that are going to be in there again and then potentially new guys that will flow through there and getting them on the same page so we can keep building on the momentum that we created at the end of last year in the clearances perspective.”

Witts will face competition from Tom Nicholls in the ruck department again this year, but the 25-year-old’s stellar form last season was enough to keep Nicholls out of the side.

Both will be in action on Friday night’s Family Night Out for the club’s first intra-club match of the year.