Suns need to convince Lynch he can win flag with Gold Coast
Gold Coast's pitch to get free agent Tom Lynch to stay with the club will focus on convincing him he can win a premiership in his time at the Suns.
The club's CEO Mark Evans believes Lynch's decision will not be based on the money available, with the 25-year-old expected to be able to earn more if he stayed with the Suns than if he moved back to Victoria.
"The things that I think are important to him is a great relationship with a coach who he thinks is a modern coach and great communicator," Evans told SEN.
"And a football manager and a list manager, I’ve already proved to him about how we want to integrate our leadership group in the major decisions for the club.
"We have solved the facility issue that sat with the club for seven years.
"I think what Tom needs to see in all of that, if he believes all of that, he needs to see the hope that Stuart Dew, Craig Cameron, Jon Haines, Steven May and other important leaders around the place, are going to help him get to a premiership in his time."
Lynch, who is co-captain, has not played in finals nor has he completed a season where he has played in more wins than losses.
Now with his third coach, he has never played Friday night football and played in front of 50,000 for the first time in round three against West Coast at Optus Stadium.
The Suns believe it's likely Lynch would receive ambassadorial money from the AFL if he chose to stay but any discussions on that component of a deal would not take place until after he agreed to stay.
Evans claimed he has not spoken to the AFL about ambassadorial money that might be available for Lynch.
The Suns put in a shocking performance in their first game back at Metricon Stadium for the year, losing to Geelong by 85 points and have three wins in their first 10 games.
The loss to the Cats was compounded by an ankle injury to Lynch's co-captain Steven May that will force him to miss up to six weeks.