GOLD Coast coach Guy McKenna is looking forward to nurturing a competitive attitude within his young squad when it begins pre-season training on Saturday.
The club's list, which will play in the TAC Cup under-18 competition next year and the VFL in 2010, is beginning to take shape with the recent signing of its eighth player, promising ruckman Rory Thompson.
He follows Jesse Haberfield, Jack Stanlake, Zac Smith, Charlie Dixon, Jack Stanley, Nick Price and Joseph Daye.
The balance of the squad will be made up of players who represented Queensland in this year's NAB AFL Under-18 Championships or have been identified through the state's talented player pathway program.
McKenna, appointed coach of GC17 in August, is expecting his players to be fired up from the word go, given they'll ultimately compete against each other for a spot in the Gold Coast side that enters the AFL in 2011.
"Our latest signing is big Rory Thompson, who's a local Queensland fella who's a big 'ranga' (redhead), which got him across the line with me," he told Melbourne radio station SEN on Thursday.
"We'll have a squad of 40 so there will be 32 fellas that will be competing next year in the TAC Cup.
"Into next year, going into our rules as far as the list goes, basically we've got to squeeze them into 14 spots. We can sign another four and then we can have another 10 that are uncontracted.
"In another year, we can look at 10 other boys. It's going to be pretty competitive."
The Gold Coast side will travel to Melbourne six times next year and, for the first time, the competition's Victoria- and Tasmania-based talent will be required to fly north for fixtures against the new team.
McKenna believes the travel will benefit the players as some prepare for life as AFL footballers.
"It's going to give the kids a chance to travel because all these good young kids who get picked out of the TAC go straight into AFL sometimes haven't been near an airport or sat on a plane," he said.
"It's a really good thing for the kids there."
McKenna added he was pleased to appoint Brisbane Lions premiership players Marcus Ashcroft and Shaun Hart as his assistants, with the pair signing on this week.
"They're a couple of quality boys, local fellas as well, and that was part of the criteria," he said.
"[It wasn't] the biggest part because they need to be able to coach and work with young kids and they certainly tick the boxes there.
"But they're local lads that can bite into a bit of the Brisbane supporter base up here.
"With the young kids coming into the squad, they can look up to two fellas that have won three premierships, a Norm Smith, and played over 500 games between them. It's a good example to follow."
McKenna said the Gold Coast community was "pumped" for the new side, with membership figures already surpassing expectations.
"They're really excited about it. They've done a heap of work, they've ticked off the boxes as far as sponsorship and supporter-base [goes].
"They wanted to get 20,000 signed-up members, and we know it's easy to log on and tick that you're jumping on board, but they had 22,000 registered that said, 'We'll part with some money', and 40,000 that logged on.
"They're really excited about it and really want to have a crack at it."
