INAUGURAL Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna believes the choice of recruiting manager will be just as important as his own appointment at the new club.

McKenna will lead the competition's next team in its two fledging years and will have to prove his worth immediately to earn the chance to coach the club in 2011 – its debut season in the AFL.

The GC17 franchise, which aims to be granted the AFL's 17th team licence in October, signed the Collingwood assistant coach to a two-year deal on Wednesday.

In accepting the contract, McKenna admitted there was a risk he could establish a team but then be denied the chance to coach the senior side.

However, GC17 franchise chairman John Witheriff noted he would be disappointed if it was not McKenna coaching the side in round one, 2011.

McKenna said the franchise now had to make the right moves in hiring the man whose primary responsibility was finding the required players.

"The recruiter is a massive one," he said.

"I'm going to make mistakes at training and in games, but the recruiter cannot afford to make mistakes.

"We don't know what sort of (draft) concessions the AFL will give us yet, but we've got to make sure that every pick is absolutely gold, pardon the pun, because we only get one shot at this and we have to make sure we get the right quality kids to the club."

The chance of becoming a footballing pioneer again was what excited McKenna, who played the first of his 267 games at West Coast in 1988 – that club's second season.

He said he would use that same message when encouraging young players to sign for the franchise, which currently lacks a nickname, home and colours, but has signed four Gold Coast teenagers.

"I see this as similar to West Coast in that we're starting from scratch and I'll be saying to young guys that they'll have the chance to be one of the pioneers," he said.

McKenna has been considered the next AFL coach-in-waiting, having served as an assistant at the Eagles and then under Mick Malthouse at Collingwood for five seasons.

He was previously interviewed for positions at Carlton, Melbourne, Essendon and St Kilda.

The Gold Coast position was considered a risk to some, as former Brisbane Lions great Michael Voss last month rejected an offer of a three-year deal because of a lack of security.

Soon after, Malthouse warned applicants not to sign for anything less than three years, because of the risk of being replaced after doing all the hard work.

But McKenna said it would be him to blame if he could not impress the board sufficiently to earn a second contract.

"It's a focus on developing and ... if I can get a leg up and impress the board that we're heading in the right direction, then I'm confident I can get into that third year," he said.

He will serve his term at Collingwood, adding that "my grand plan is to win the flag at Collingwood and then move up" to the Gold Coast in October to finalise the inaugural playing list.