Leaving Melbourne behind was initially quite challenging for Iles, but the transition was easier as he made it with former Magpie and close friend Danny Stanley, who was also rookie-listed by the Gold Coast last year. “To start off with it was pretty tough just moving away from family and friends and I suppose it’s a whole new life really. I’m living with Danny Stanley and it’s made the transition a lot easier, us two coming up here together. We’ve got the same interests outside of footy and pretty much do everything together. There are two older guys in Michael Coad and Daniel Harris and then everyone else is 18 or 19 so there’s a bit of an age gap. It’s a lot different to what I was used to at my other footy clubs.”
Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna knows Iles well after having been the midfield coach at Collingwood, and already has all the boys preparing for the step up to AFL next year.
“Bluey has been fantastic. He’s such a good teacher, especially with the younger guys and with me. Every week we’re watching AFL games to learn and to see who we’re going to be coming up against next year. Bluey’s pretty keen on the idea of oppositional analysis so we’ll watch the Friday night game and one of the coaches will review one of those teams and go through their strengths and weaknesses so we have a bit of background information for next year.”
Iles and Stanley now find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being one of the older players at the club, but both have embraced their new-found roles as leaders. “We spend a lot of time with the younger guys, the 17- and 18-year-olds, just guiding them whether it be through everyday life or about footy. Obviously on-field, the mentoring role is new to me. I suppose being at Collingwood there were so many older guys but now we’ve come up here and we’re the more experienced guys ... it’s a completely different role. I’ve enjoyed it and learnt a lot from it as well.”
The two appear to be inseparable and have even started their own personal training business together after completing their qualifications during their time at Collingwood. “We’d both had that background experience working with Tarkyn [Lockyer] and Nick [Maxwell]’s PT business. Obviously being on a rookie wage up here we need a bit of outside money coming in to help us live and that’s been really good. When we first came up here we thought we’d speak to the footy club and they were really helpful. We’re training a group of the older players, staff, coaches, CEOs and all their partners.”
Life on the Gold Coast is a lot different to the hustle and bustle of Melbourne, but Iles is trying to blend in. “It’s definitely not like Melbourne where you’ve got your cafes and a lot of shopping, which I enjoy. Through the summer you’ll spend time just lying on the beach up here or playing a bit of golf. When Danny and I came up over summer we got a couple of surfboards and took them out a little bit but I’ve yet to master the sport of surfing. The first time we went out the water was pretty rough and I’m not the strongest swimmer. I’ve got to work on that so I can paddle my way out the back and catch a few waves.”
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