Gold Coast's raft of teenage recruits are bracing for the rest of the AFL to try to bully them around when they enter the competition this year.

Suns' staff have advised players to expect rivals to exploit their youth and inexperience with intimidatory tactics.

"They've warned us, the psychiatrists and stuff have told us that they'll probably try to bully us a bit, being so young," 18-year-old ruck-forward recruit Sam Day told reporters in Melbourne.

"But you've just got to put up with it, it's AFL.

"That's what (coach Guy McKenna) always says, `Rip up your birth certificates, you come to play and age is no restriction out here.'"

Gold Coast's list includes only a small group of AFL-experienced players, most of whom are lightly built or not noted for aggression, meaning the club will lack an imposing physical presence.

Former Hawthorn hard man Campbell Brown is an obvious exception.

The 196cm Day, taken at No.3 in November's national draft, said he and his teammates were yet to be told how they should respond to bullying.

"I guess they'll come to that closer to gametime," he said.

"At the moment we're just focussing on training."

Day, speaking on Monday at an AFL players' association induction camp at the MCG for all the league's draftees, said it was impossible to predict how the Suns would fare in their debut season.

The camp is meant to prepare the 126 draftees for life as AFL players, with a strong focus on avoiding off-field trouble, including topical issues such as the potential pitfalls of social networking sites.

"It's a big key for young guys, their decision-making, in terms of when they play on-field. But off-field decision-making is what we really focus on during this camp," the association's player development general manager Steven Alessio said.

Psychological issues are also raised.

Day said the personal stories shared by former players Nathan Thompson, who experienced depression during his career, and Mark Eustice, who has battled drug and alcohol addiction, were powerful.

"With Nathan, (the message I took was) just not keeping your emotions bottled up inside," Day said.

"I guess I'm a pretty quiet and shy person, so I just need to go and find someone to talk to, get help (when needed), because it's there for you, the AFL and AFLPA provide that for you."

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