Here's the thing about Gold Coast in 2011. There will be no dud players in their best 22..

Look around the other sides expected to finish in the bottom four, or even outside the eight. Their likely best teams on paper will contain a dud or two, and certainly a few more who will fit under the description 'honest battler'.

Not so the Suns. Guy McKenna's list is chock full of top liners. The AFL's 17th club had an 18-month window to pick best young players in the draft and if they all live up to potential then the Suns will be frighteningly good in about four year's time. Even if a few of the highly-ranked draftees fall just that little bit short, the Suns will be very good in a short period of time, then remain strong for a considerable period thereafter.

Being able to select David Swallow, Harley Bennell and Sam Day with the first three picks of the national draft last November was great for the Suns. Sets them up for years. But conveniently forgotten, although the NAB Cup reminded us a little bit, was that players such as Josh Toy, Maverick Weller and Zac Smith had already been locked up by the club for 12 months before that.

The point here is not to decry the system that allowed the Suns to pick the eyes out of the draft and to get the best 17 year olds the summer before that. The other AFL clubs weren't just consulted on the rules in place to build the Suns; they helped create them. So don't expect much sympathy here for any bleatings from rival clubs that the AFL has created a monster on the Gold Coast.

The experienced players will add plenty for the Suns. Gary Ablett got what he always wanted - to captain an AFL side - and with that comes all the attention and the hard tags. This time, there is no James Bartel, Joel Selwood or James Kelly to give him a chop-out. Be careful what you wish for, Gazza. Michael Rischitelli was a great pick up from the Lions, Jared Brennan too, but the smart selection 12 months ago was Daniel Harris, a known extractor of the footy and likely to be a Dreamteam/Supercoach favourite.

Much of the rest of the experience the Suns have is down back. Nathan Bock, Jarrod Harbrow, Nathan Krakouer and Campbell Brown. Karmichael Hunt, amazingly, appears set for round one and on exposed NAB Cup form, has slotted in very well. The Suns could have enough of a defense to keep themselves competitive in a few games this year, so it will be up to the midfielders and the forwards to generate the goals and that's where the question marks begin.

The Suns don't have marquee forwards. Charlie Dixon is being groomed, while Brandon Matera apparently has the goalsense that runs in the genes, but there is no hulking forward to win games off his own boot.

So why 15th? There will be days when the talent just clicks and the Suns will look a million bucks. All the rebuilding teams have days when everything works. But there will be other days for Gold Coast in 2011 - absolute floggings on the road and games when inexperience and smaller bodies will lead to a costly mistake and a painfully narrow defeat.

They're the ones that will hurt but that will eventually be the making of a very good side. Not in 2011, but more than likely, in a few years after that.