If the growth of Gold Coast in 2021 is to come from its exciting youth, Friday's monster training session at Carrara was a good sign.

In a session that lasted three hours in near 30-degree temperatures and high humidy, Noah Anderson, Ben King and Izak Rankine were the standouts in a series of match simulation drills.

Anderson was a genuine eye-catcher.

Playing on-ball for much of a 60-minute game intensity session, the former No.2 draft pick won a stack of clearances and looked composed and polished when he got the ball in space.

One passage where he helped out in the defensive goalsquare and then pumped the ball inside 50 shortly after to a leading target highlighted his terrific workrate.

King was equally impressive.

Although often matched against smaller opponents, the 20-year-old was regularly double-teamed and still outmarked them or brought his teammates into the game with big contests.

He is noticeably broader through the chest and shoulders and had a presence when the ball was in his vicinity.

Not to be outdone, Rankine was his usual busy self, and as he showed in his debut season, was most dangerous at forward 50 stoppages.

No.7 draft pick Elijah Hollands did a power of running, including agility work and reps around the boundary line, as he continues to recover from an ACL injury.