The Suns will rise. But any glorious Gold Coast dawn is still a few seasons away.
All in the footy world seem to realise this - although Craig Hutchison has tipped the Suns to make the eight in their debut season - but the enormity of the challenge facing the AFL's 17th side in 2011 was rammed home by Jake Niall in The Age on Monday.
Niall said when the Suns play their first match, in round two against Carlton, they will field the youngest side since the VFL became the AFL in 1990. The Suns, Niall added, will also have at least 11 debutants in their side, who will consist almost entirely of teenagers, and may have only 10 players with AFL experience.
They won't be able to call upon a core of battle-hardened SANFL or WAFL veterans either, like the AFL's South Australian and West Australian sides were able to do in their first seasons.
Which leaves them with one young, inexperienced side. And, while no one doubts the talent of youngsters like David Swallow, Harley Bennell and Josh Toy, the Gold Coast simply doesn't have a sufficient core of experience to back them up this year.
Managing the Suns' young list will also be a massive challenge for coach Guy McKenna. He acknowledges that, telling Niall he will have to rest his youngsters on a rotational basis throughout the year to ensure the demands of an AFL season do not burn them out.
The need to develop players will also mean wins will not always be paramount for the Suns. For instance, Niall said the Suns were committed to playing a developing ruckman alongside No. 1 ruckman Josh Fraser, despite the fact playing a more versatile tall, like Collingwood does with Leigh Brown, could ease the workload on the rest of their team.
Make no mistake, the Suns' time will come. Just not yet.
Behind enemy lines
The AFL's move into NRL territory was big news in The Australian on Monday. It wasn't even limited to the sports pages either, with The Australian's media section reporting NRL angst over reports last week the AFL was the most-watched sporting code in Australia.
While the AFL averaged 14.64 million viewers per club last season compared to the NRL's average of 13.81 million, the NRL led the AFL in total cumulative audience by 120.6 million to 111.1 million.
And NRL director of strategic projects Shane Mittiske wanted to let everyone know about it. As the NRL prepares to bunker down for its own TV rights negotiations, Mittiske also pointed out the NRL's bigger pay-TV audience - it had 73 of 2010's 100 top-rating programs on Fox Sports, the AFL eight.
Meanwhile, The Australian also ran a story on former Geelong skipper Tom Harley's new development role with the AFL in Sydney and the ACT. Harley spoke of the challenges of establishing Australian Football in the multi-code state but said he was heartened by the skills and knowledge of the game that local children had shown at clinics. He acknowledged, however, there was a lack of quality coaches and that it would take a generation for the AFL to make real inroads.
Addressing apparent player concerns that GWS is too far out of Sydney, Harley said, if he'd been playing with GWS, he would have lived on Sydney's north shore and commuted.
Not sure what the Rooty Hill locals would make of that.
Not sure what we make of the national paper running a column by John Pasquarelli alongside the Harley article, one in which Pauline Hanson's former adviser criticises the AFL for being too soft on off-field behaviour and calls for a zero-tolerance policy.
It's Tiger time
Richmond was a big newsmaker on Monday.
A repentant Daniel Connors told The Age his eight-week club suspension last season had been a wake-up call that AFL careers are not forever. He also said the increased bulk and size he had built over the pre-season would make him a more imposing player at stoppages, in the mould of Fremantle's David Mundy.
The Herald Sun ran a feature on explosive midfielder Nathan Foley, who will return to Richmond's side in round one after two injury-plagued seasons. Foley gave an insight into just how big a mental struggle long-term injuries with no set return date can be, but reassured Tiger fans he has lost none of his trademark pace.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick also pulled out a classic pre-season cliché, likening Foley's return to picking up a first-round draft pick.
In a separate report in the tabloid, Jack Riewoldt said he shared Hardwick's concern over the Tigers' poor pre-season form but was hopeful of a better showing this Thursday in their round one match against Carlton.
Meanwhile, The Australian reported the Tigers could field up to five debutants against the Blues with their first three draft picks from last year - Reece Conca, Jake Batchelor and Brad Helbig - all possible starters.
We just hope after the boilovers of the past two seasons the Tigers do their bit to make 2011's season opener one to remember.
Pendlebury's hangover cure not recommend for all
The Herald Sun's back page banner took us by surprise. "Hangover cure", it teased, trumpeting Collingwood midfielder Scott Pendlebury's new column.
However, anyone nursing a sore head on Monday who thought Pendlebury was about to come to their aid with a miracle cure was soon set straight.
Pendlebury, as you'd expect of such an upstanding young man, was talking premiership hangovers and the cure he prescribed - an intense 30-minute session of interval running at high-altitude - would have most of us feeling sick just thinking about it.
We took some solace when Pendlebury said the pre-season workout in Arizona had been enough to make players like Dale Thomas and Dayne Beams vomit.
But the non-Collingwood supporters among us took no solace from Pendlebury's assertion that one training session had put paid to any premiership hangover the Magpies may have had.
It's enough to drive you to drink.
In short
After an injury-interrupted pre-season Essendon ruckman David Hille is likely to be selected as the Bombers' substitute player in their round one match against the Western Bulldogs, the Herald Sun reports.
West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr remains eligible for selection in the Eagles' round one clash with North Melbourne after receiving confirmation his clash with Claremont player Luke Blakewell in a WAFL practice match would not be investigated, The West Australian reports.
Adelaide captain Nathan van Berlo told The Advertiser the Crows' playing list was privately aiming to make the top four this season but publicly were more likely to talk up a top-eight berth.
After the disappointment of his side's narrow semi-final loss to the Western Bulldogs last season, Sydney Swans midfielder Kieren Jack says the Swans could finish in the top-four this year, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
