After announcing via a letter to members on Tuesday his intention to step down as Gold Coast SUNS Chairman in March, John Witheriff was in no mood to reflect on his achievements at an open media call on Wednesday at Metricon Stadium.



After nearly 10 years in the top job, Witheriff’s sole focus remains on the work still facing him and his board.



“It’s been a really interesting 10 years for me but I’ve got work to do through the course of the next few months,” Witheriff said.



“We’ve got to finish building the training/administration base complex; I know there’s five cranes on the site at the moment.



“We’ve got work to get done and I’ll be reflecting perhaps on some of the achievements over the last 10 years as we get closer to March and closer towards the back-end of the year.”



With the club continuing to build momentum heading into 2016, the inaugural SUNS chairman felt the time was right to move on and revealed considerable time and energy had been put into implementing a succession plan.



“The one thing that I’ve always wanted to ensure is that this club’s been well governed,” he said.



“Well governing means that we get succession planning in place and today’s all about ensuring the club goes about a very orderly process of succession.



“It’s business as usual for us and I’m very pleased that like all things we do, we’ve gone about it the right way.”



In chairman elect Tony Cochrane, the SUNS have a smooth operator that will confidently lead the expansion club into the next chapter of its journey.



“The board’s very strongly behind Tony,” Witheriff said.



“Tony’s a very talented operator, understands sport, has a great passion for AFL and he’s going to be fantastic for the club going forward so I’m very confident I’m leaving the club in great hands.”