Former Sydney Swans premiership player and Gold Coast defender Nick Malceski has been revealed as the SUNS NEAFL coach ahead of the 2018 season.

Malceski said it was a “very exciting” opportunity where he’ll look to strengthen the youth of the SUNS list.

“Obviously (our goal is to) just to develop the younger guys and try to give them as much exposure as to what it is to be an AFL player,” Malceski told SUNS TV.

“We’ve got a good program in place at the moment that I think they’re buying into so obviously if they can transfer that into games that’s our main priority.”

Malceski played in the Swans’ 2012 premiership side before joining the SUNS as a restricted free agent at the end of the 2014 season.

The defender played 34 games for the SUNS across two seasons before announcing his retirement and transitioning into an assistant coaching role in 2016.

Joining the 33-year-old on the NEAFL coaching panel will be Shaun Hart and Aaron Rogers, forming a trio which Malceski believes can “tie in really well together” to develop the club’s youth.

“Obviously we’ve got a big group of young guys at the club,” Malceski said.

“I think with our first to third year players, we’ve got about 20 of them at the moment.

“(I’ll) try to give them a bit of my experience… and get them up to speed so when they do get their opportunity at AFL level we’ve had a part in that and watched them grow.”

The SUNS NEAFL season kicks off on April 7 against Aspley, with preseason games beginning a few weeks earlier for Malceski to begin moulding his new side.

“Obviously (we’ve got a) new game plan with Stuart Dew coming on board so that’s something we’ll really focus on,” he said.

“I think our first practice match is JLT two so we’ll have an opportunity then for the guys who don’t play JLT one or AFLX.

“(We’ll try) to expose them in a game situation where we’re going to make sure they get their right structures and the game plan that we want to play.

“Then hopefully they can start their season off with some good form.”