Suns strike WA gold
Like a proud new father, Rodney Eade shuffles over to his Gold Coast whiteboard and carefully plucks off the magnetic name tags of six players as if each was his first-born son.
The Suns coach is an old hand, but it is obvious the game still excites him as he places the tags on his desk in front of him in ladder-like formation.
He cradles his hands around them, looks up and unashamedly talks of the individual attributes of WA recruits Jaeger O'Meara, Harley Bennell, Brandon Matera, Jack Martin, David Swallow and Jarrod Garlett.
But, typically, Eade's praise grows when he begins to assess them as a group poised to play a key role in taking Gold Coast to a first finals campaign. They are arguably the most talented battalion of WA players ever to assemble at an interstate club.
"All of them together, it's quite a special group," Eade said.
"They are not only great ambassadors for our club, but they're great ambassadors for the State (WA) with the way they conduct themselves and go about it. They are just good people.
"Obviously we had some early picks, but they all have extreme talent. I suppose the message to all these players who are really talented is that I can't think of a player who has achieved their potential without some hard work."
Eade said O'Meara had shown his special qualities by playing with significant knee problems last year and was ahead of schedule with his training after surgery to deal with the issues.
Matera underwent a second pre-season groin operation just before Christmas, but is back running, while Bennell had to manage calf tightness in the early stages of pre-season.
Eade, who has replaced Guy McKenna at the helm of the Suns, stopped just short of describing the opportunity to coach a team brimming with high draft picks as surreal.
He thought his senior coaching life was over and had embraced his role as Collingwood coaching director until the "unique" Suns job came calling.
"I suppose at my age, I was happy with what I was doing," the 56-year-old said.
"I heard some rumours about Gold Coast from different people in the footy industry, but no one had spoken to me so I didn't really take much notice of it.
"Then I got a phone call and it ignited some embers that were obviously still alight.
"It became a roaring flame pretty quick. It was too good an opportunity to pass up."
A four-times premiership player at Hawthorn, Eade was agonisingly short of a flag as a coach with Sydney (runners-up 1996) and then the Western Bulldogs (preliminary finals 2008-10).
He admitted that dream had also been rekindled, minus any major fanfare.
"People have said that's why I'm doing it and you do think of that," Eade said.
"But you can't worry about that too much. I hate the word process, but you've just got to do what you've got control of and take it as it comes along and work and try and keep improving.
"That sort of stuff will take care of itself."
Eade may not have even found himself in the job if Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett hadn't sustained the serious shoulder injury which appeared to rob the Suns of their maiden finals appearance.
But he has embraced the chance to coach the AFL's best player, who ran a personal best 2km time trial as _The Weekend West _looked on.
"He's very professional and very meticulous in the way he goes about his work," Eade said of dual Brownlow medallist Ablett.
"From everything I can see and everything I've heard, it's A-grade. You always like coaching good players, great players, and I've been fortunate over a long period of time to have coached some great players.
"But no individual is bigger than the team, and while I know Gary goes close to knocking that down, I've always been brought up on it's the team first, second and third."
Eade, who admitted he hadn't yet learnt the Gold Coast theme song, pointed out that his team boasted only seven players above 25 years of age. But he also added that many of his young stars already had significant experience in terms of games played.
Eade said finals were the aim for the Suns, who finished 12th last season with 10 wins.
"I've just been really getting to know the players and their idiosyncrasies, I suppose, and obviously setting some benchmarks for the way we want to go about it," Eade said.
"I've been pleased with the response of the players, they're a really driven group and a really good group to coach.
"They want to be coached consistently and hard, they want to get better and they're looking for improvement.
"We need to physically develop and we still need to get a bit fitter and learn more about the way the game is played and where it's going. But you would think with natural evolution and natural improvement, we'll get better.
"What that equates to, I don't know. But you aim for best-case scenario. We're aiming for the finals. They've got to get used to pressure, we've got to expose them to that and put the expectations up and raise the bar."
