Continued acceleration of local and global stressors impacting coral reefs requires that restoration practitioners expand tools guiding decision making across projects with diverse scales and goals for restoration activity. Coral functional traits describe the broad properties of reef forming corals central to reef ecosystem service valuation; however, application of such functional properties to guide restoration strategies is currently under under-explored. Resilience-based restoration strategies can be enhanced by species selection to maximize the trait space occupied to account for future potential disturbances. To do so requires foundational research to evaluate the functional status of (1) current restoration site coral communities, and (2) how they are in turn modified through coral planting strategies. We consider this approach using data collected on both reef ecology and coral planting strategy from Australia’s Coral Nurture Program. We assess the trait space of natural reef (control) compared to adjacent stewardship restoration sites (coral planting) in the Cairns-Port Douglas region over a 6-year timeframe. Benthic data was assessed alongside coral outplanting logs to incorporate stewardship restoration activity at each site within trait analyses. We discuss how such insights can inform next adaptive strategies based on trait space geared to meet alternative ecosystem service outcomes.