IF YOU, like everyone else who watches footy, enjoys what you're seeing in Bailey Humphrey then stay tuned. There's a lot more to come.

Humphrey is in the middle of his third season at Gold Coast and will play his 50th game this Sunday. This year, he is quickly becoming one of the competition's most dangerous men and a go-to for Suns coach Damien Hardwick. Humphrey is happy with his progress, but knows he is only just scratching the surface of what he's capable of as a powerful midfielder and forward.

"100 per cent this is just the beginning and I know that," Humphrey told AFL.com.au.

"I have really high standards for myself and I'm playing some pretty good footy at the moment. I'm just trying to make sure I don’t get too happy with myself. I'm trying to stay down to earth and keep making sure I can go to work on my craft.

"It's only going to make me better. It's just the beginning and I'm just scratching the surface. There's plenty more to come hopefully."

Humphrey came to the Suns as a prized No.6 pick at the 2022 draft. He is looking every bit of that and more, having transitioned his game to be more in the midfield this season.

Champion Data shows he has taken his midfield time from 10 per cent last year to 39 per cent this season, and is the fourth-most used Suns midfielder at centre bounces, averaging 10.9 attendances a game (behind Noah Anderson, Matt Rowell and Touk Miller). In tight wins over the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn in Darwin the past two weeks, Humphrey was in there late when it mattered.

"Against the Bulldogs 'Grigga' (assistant coach Shaun Grigg) and 'Dimma' (senior coach Damien Hardwick) said 'Put 'Humpa' and Will Graham in there'. For them to have the trust in us to get it done showed great belief in us and it gives me great confidence, and pretty much the same thing happened against the Hawks.

"I didn't have the greatest third quarter and didn't really touch the ball at all, but they said 'We want you in there in the last quarter' and I thought I went out there and did well.

"Their belief in me has given me a lot of confidence to go out and do my thing when the time matters. No matter what time of the game, the way I approach each contest is the exact same and that's with my body on the line."

There have been steps to get to that point. Humphrey has worked hard on his running and knows there's still work to go there before he is in the middle more. But it has been a mental application to the top level which has been the biggest adjustment.

Last year Hardwick gave plenty of responsibility to Humphrey as an impact midfielder and half-forward, but the then second-year player had a form slump that included five straight games in the middle of the season of fewer than 10 disposals.

Going into this year, the 20-year-old worked closely with Suns mindset coach (and former Richmond champion) Alex Rance on finding ways to work around those blocks.

"'Dimma' has helped me and backed me in each week, because there's been times where they could have probably dropped me back to the VFL, but they have full belief in me," Humphrey said.

"I struggled pretty badly last year with my hot and cold moments when I wasn't playing well. I'd get really frustrated and down on myself with the way I'd play even more and it would go into my week even more. I wasn't really enjoying footy last year with the way I was playing.

"I was doing everything right during the week to set myself up, but my footy wasn't clicking last year and I went pretty hard over the pre-season on the mental side of my game. That's coming out now. Even when I have quiet quarters or a quiet 10 minutes, I have the ability to bring myself back so that I can perform.

"I work with Alex Rance and get back to my core actions like speed, power. The things people can't take away from me. Last year I focussed more in those moments on getting my hands on the ball and things people can take away from me. But I know that if I bring my speed and power, it's something nobody can take away from me. Even if it doesn't click in the first five minutes of doing it, if I keep doing it over and over in a game, things will change."

The impact has been obvious. Champion Data ranks Humphrey as elite in contested possessions, groundball gets, tackles and score involvements. He is the No.1 ranked midfielder-forward for the season and under the 100x rankings system (which ranks the difference of a player's ratings against the expectation in their position), he is rated as the 13th best player in the competition this year, behind the likes of Ed Richards, Riley Thilthorpe, Andrew Brayshaw, Bailey Dale, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. Last year he was ranked No.213.

Humphrey has continued to be a threat up forward as well and last week kicked a brilliant goal after gathering a loose ball, shrugging off a tackler and slotting it from 50 metres.

It earned the applause of Hawthorn great Cyril Rioli in the crowd, but meant a little more to Humphrey, who raised his arm to the sky in a tribute to his childhood friend Riley Pearce, who tragically lost his life to suicide before Humphrey was drafted.

He has remained tight with Riley's parents and followed through on a pre-game promise.

"I was talking to his dad during the week and I thought it was the perfect goal to point to the sky making sure he knows I'm still here," he said.

"I told his dad I'd do it and he was really appreciative. His mum and dad are two special people to me. They try and get to as many games as they can and they always watch – after every game they always send me a message even if it's 11 o'clock after a night game and they always give me a 'Good luck' message too, which is so nice.

"They're two people who I really appreciate because they've done a lot for me since losing 'Chop'."