The Gold Coast SUNS are at an ‘absolute tipping point of going places in the next few years’ according to chairman elect, Tony Cochrane.
 
Speaking to SUNS TV on Wednesday morning, the former V8 Supercars boss couldn’t hide his excitement at the prospect of taking over from founding director John Witheriff after round one in March 2016.
 
“What a fantastic role in a great club,” Cochrane said.
 
“I think we’re in for some very exciting years ahead of us and I’m completely energised about having a real fair-dinkum crack so I’m really looking forward to it, absolutely.”
 
When asked about Witheriff’s contribution to the SUNS, Cochrane was full of admiration at what the inaugural Gold Coast chairman had achieved.
 
“Where do you start, where do you finish?” he said.
 
“As the founding director, just look around us. Look at the infrastructure we’re standing around. When he started there wasn’t anything, it was a blank sheet of paper and where he’s taken the club from in those nine years is just phenomenal.”
 
“John will always be the founding chairman of this football club and in 100 years time, they’ll still be talking about what he did in establishing the brand, establishing the club, establishing the facilities here at Metricon (Stadium).
 
“So we’re all privileged to ride off the back of that hard work from John and I hope that I can carry that on and in part, fill his shoes. So that’s the challenge.”
 
As for what Cochrane hoped to achieve when he steps into the role, the master promoter vowed to keep the SUNS as a family-friendly club and believed the depth of talent both on and off the field would translate into wins on the board in 2016.
 
“I really enjoy it here, it’s a tremendous family atmosphere and it’s something the club has worked hard to engender over the last five years and I promise all our fans it’s something I’ll work very hard to keep the spirit going over the next few years,” Cochrane said.
 
“It’s a great club, we’ll get some great results this coming season and there’s nothing like winning to make a football club truly fantastic.”