Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade says this year’s Suns squad is the most gifted he’s had at the AFL club, but talent isn’t everything.

Eade enters his third season with the Suns after finishing 12th and 16th in the past two injury-plagued years, and says greater squad depth is the key to securing a maiden finals berth.

“All the good sides at the top of the ladder have got A; talent, but B; they’ve got a lot of depth if they do get injuries,” Eade said.

The Suns have had the pick of much of the best young talent since their inception in 2011 and continued this trend with three top 10 draft picks ahead of the 2017 season.

Ben Ainsworth (pick No.4) and Jack Bowes (No.10) will debut in round one.

Ainsworth has drawn eyes with his “sticky” hands in a contest and Bowes with his ability to deliver the ball calmly in traffic.

But Eade says he’s been more impressed by their willingness to work hard.

“Sometimes players who arrive touted with ability tend to think they’ve made it, they tend to cruise a bit but I haven’t seen any of that with these lads,” Eade said.

“Their attitude has been fantastic”

In his first two years Eade used 55 players but believes with a full roster there’s no reason why Gold Coast can’t make the top eight.

“There’s a lot of teams that can challenge for finals,” he said on Thursday.

“If you read the press there’s a lot of players talking their chances up, by last count I think there was 14 (clubs) that think they can make the finals.

“We believe we’re in that conversation.”

The Suns start their 2017 season against local rivals Brisbane on Saturday and are favourites after winning three of their past four fixtures against the Lions.