AS SOON as the recorder stopped, Matt Rowell exhaled, smirked and said: "he's going alright, isn't he?"
Gold Coast co-captain Jarrod Witts says he – a player we'll introduce shortly – is as impressive as any young player he's seen.
Stuart Dew describes him as an on-field coach.
And midfield assistant coach Steven King lauds his footy IQ and composure.
The 'he' is Noah Anderson, Gold Coast's midfield ace who has steadily climbed to be among the competition's best in his position over the past two seasons.
That's not a statement made lightly. In a team that contains Brownlow Medal podium finisher Touk Miller, Anderson polled 14 votes in the same count last year and is only getting better.
His raw numbers are up in almost every category, and he's received nine coaches votes in both of Gold Coast's wins in the past fortnight.
With his mix of inside ball winning, speed, fantastic endurance and penetrating right boot, Anderson is the real midfield deal.
Rowell, his great mate and centre-bounce sidekick, said Anderson's output starts with his preparation.
"Noah's never really satisfied," Rowell told AFL.com.au.
"Throughout the week he does everything that needs to be done … he really does his homework on the opposition.
"He'll be in to review Richmond with Kingy, but then he'll be straight on to Melbourne and looking at their mids and what we can do, what will work for us, what's their main strength.
"I think he's got a really good footy brain. He does lots of homework and then he also matches that with the work-rate on the field."
The on-field workrate can go under the radar.
Anderson has turned himself into one of Gold Coast's best two-way runners, clocking 5.52 for a 2km time trial during the pre-season – a mark very few in the AFL can match.
He regularly outstrips his teammates in-match with his GPS data.
"He can run to exhaustion, but then give him 10 or 15 seconds and he can reboot really quickly," Dew said.
"Some players come to the bench and you can see they need that full time (to recover). Noah goes for a little walk and he gives you the nod: "I'm ready to go".
"He absolutely just leaves it all out there."
RUNNING UP THAT HILL Inside the Suns' brutal 8km 'oven' of a climb
Ultimately, the preparation and workrate are there to give himself the best chance to succeed, and the numbers don't lie.
The 22-year-old is averaging 27 disposals a game, 12 of them contested, along with seven clearances to be ranked top-10 in the AFL in that category.
Statistics provided by Champion Data show that when Anderson attends the centre bounce, the Suns win the clearance 52.3 per cent of the time – ranked second in the League behind Sydney's Luke Parker.
He's also forced 29 turnovers from his pressure this season – top 10 in the competition.
Assistant coach King has now worked closely with Anderson for 18 months since joining joined Gold Coast's coaching staff from the Western Bulldogs at the end of the 2021 season.
"He's got that ability to win his own ball but also know when to see a gap and take it with ball in hand, but also to fill a gap defensively," King said.
"There's great balance in his game, contested and uncontested.
"He's happy to have the ball in his hands for a while, assess what's going on and either drive his legs and find a target or set someone else up in space.
"His footy IQ and composure, he's got a great mix of being excited by what he can do outside, but when it's there to be won, he'll put his head over it and win it as well."
Watching Anderson around his teammates, he is almost the perfect conduit between the team's veterans and its younger core.
He's as comfortable talking gameplans with older heads Witts, Miller and David Swallow as he is talking weekend plans with fellow young guns Rowell, Ben King and housemate Charlie Ballard.
It's one of many reasons he was ushered into the leadership group by the age of 21.
"I feel like he's an on-ground coach for us," Dew said.
"I know he's under the radar a bit, but when you see the wide view and you see his organisation off the ball as the game is going at speed, he'll be sitting five or six metres off the contest deliberately and setting up people in and around that.
"He's selfless. He'll put other guys into good positions. He plays the game the right way too, he's very honest."
Playing in just his fourth season, the No.2 pick from the 2019 AFL Draft is only getting better, King says.
"The combination of the game slowing down for him, plus his strength and core and fitness over time ... I still think guys his age have got two to three years of physical growth, probably longer," he said.
"The players that stand out are the ones that win their own ball but then transfer that and do something really special with it and that's what Noah possesses.
"It's exciting to see where he'll end up."
