The leadership vacuum exposed at the Suns during their disastrous 2015 has seen the five-year-old club look to fast-track a succession plan with 23-year-old Tom Lynch the front runner,along with Dion Prestia, to enter into a co-captaincy with founding leader Ablett.

The Suns have turned to the peer group feedback-driven Leading Teams program as part of its regenerated leadership program but have not yet addressed the potentially sensitive co-captaincy issue with Ablett, 31, whose season was derailed by injury and who is still on leave.

Ablett's captaincy became the subject of intensive scrutiny during 2015 after the dual Brownlow medallist struggled to return from his shoulder reconstruction, and speculation surrounded his refusal to assist his recovery by taking anti-inflammatory medication. The club and Ablett were also at odds over his stalled contract negotiations and the length of Ablett's recovery time as the Gold Coast season was further derailed by mounting losses and a series of off-field player indiscretions involving drugs and alcohol.

Notoriously low-profile in terms of his influence away from the playing arena, Ablett was confronted by teammates who urged him to adopt a stronger presence as club captain.

While Ablett responded to that feedback and maintained a stronger presence during the second half of the season the view remains that the virtual absence of leadership development during the Suns' formation years now requires correction.

The captaincy decision will involve consultancy with the players, the Gold Coast board and executive with senior coach Rodney Eade, not previously a supporter of shared captaincies, reportedly still undecided as to the most appropriate course. Only the Suns' first-to fourth-year players have returned for pre-season training.

Lynch, with whom the club has opened contract talks beyond 2016, won the Gold Coast best-and-fairest in 2015 after finishing runner-up to his fellow vice-captain David Swallow in 2014. The centre half-forward was disciplined during the 2015 pre-season after a drinking incident but remained in the leadership group and in May moved out of the house he shared with the troubled Harley Bennell, Brandon Matera and Trent McKenzie following another indiscretion with those three players involving alcohol.

Apart from Michael Rischitelli, who turns 30 in January; the Suns' other young vice-captain Prestia, along with Swallow, Jaeger O'Meara and Steven May all remain the focus of the leadership fast-tracking. Rischitelli, the acting captain for much of 2015, has been regarded as the one stand-out in a previously relatively weak leadership group that, until 2014, included Karmichael Hunt, later charged and fined for cocaine possession following an end-of-season party with younger Gold Coast players.

The Suns have restructured and boosted their player development for 2016 with the introduction of Max Rooke and former Gold Coast Academy coach Aaron Rogers as development coaches to be overseen by Matthew Lappin. Former player development manager Simon Fletcher departed the club at the end of the season but is expected to return in a consultancy role with Leading Teams.

That move marks the first time the club has sought external help to develop young leaders after its unusual formation seven years ago as an under-18 team, moving after one year into the VFL before its entry into the AFL as a side formed around the champion Ablett, who won the first three club championships.

Ablett is contracted to play with the Suns for a further three seasons with Prestia and O'Meara also coming out of contract at the end of next season.