The Gold Coast SUNS have signed two mature players as part of the Special Assistance provided by the AFL Commission.

Werribee's Josh Corbett and West Adelaide's Chris Burgess have signed with the SUNS on a busy opening day of the trade period.

Corbett is a strong-marking tall forward, who averaged 7.6 marks per game before an eye injury hampered his breakout year in the VFL.

The 22-year-old was named the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell medallist following a standout season, with the award presented to the most promising young talent in the VFL competition. He also kicked 22 goals in nine games.

WATCH: Josh Corbett Highlights

Past winners of the award include Bayley Fritsch (2017), Luke Ryan (2016), Adam Marcon (2015), Nic Newman (2014) and Kane Lambert (2013).

Burgess, 22, is a versatile key-position player who has played at both ends of the ground in the SANFL after making his debut in 2016.

The utility joined West Adelaide prior to the 2015 season after impressing coaches with his strong contested marking skills at a come and try session when he was 18.

Originally a defender with a long and accurate kick, Burgess was moved to attack towards the end of 2017 and kicked three goals in the last match of the year.

Since then he has kicked 18 goals in as many games this year to finish equal-fourth in West Adelaide’s best and fairest.



WATCH: Chris Burgess Highlights

GM List & Strategy, Craig Cameron was excited that Corbett and Burgess had decided the Gold Coast SUNS would be the place that they would begin their AFL careers.

“We are rapt to be in a position to confirm that Josh & Chris will join our club,” Cameron said.

“We’ve been really impressed with both guys, we believe the special assistance provided by the AFL will help us enormously in 2019, it means we can maintain our strong hand at the draft where we plan to select top end talent, but these players will mean we can add much needed experience to our list in 2019.”

Corbett and Burgess join Richmond's Corey Ellis and Anthony Miles who also became SUNS players on Monday.