Despite suffering a 10th straight loss, Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick is attempting to look at the glass half full, drawing similarities between his charges and premiership favourites Fremantle.
The Suns were valiant in their defeat to Melbourne on Sunday, which continued a poor run in close finishes, and all but confirmed their absence from finals in 2026.
Hardwick was bullish on the Suns' future, with a host of exciting young talent emerging, leading to them resembling the Dockers in 2022, who made a semi-final but failed to return to September footy until last year, and ironically bowed out to Gold Coast in the elimination final.
"If you look at our template and their template, similar things have happened over history if you go back over time," Hardwick said.
"That's what we want to be.
"They made some significant changes at the end of one of their years, had a little bit of an indifferent year, then bounced (back), and they are where they are.
"They're going to be up there for a long time.
"I think we're going to be up there for a fair amount of time too.
"We've got a really good, capable, strong list that I think is capable of doing some really damaging things."
Fremantle finished 14th (10-13) in 2023 after the semi-final loss to Collingwood, and then 10th (12-10-1) the following season before returning to the finals last year.
The likes of Leo Lombard, Jed Walters, Ethan Read, Jake Rogers and Bailey Humphrey were all reasons Hardwick believes Gold Coast can spike in the years to come, similar to the Dockers.
"Our side is out there for everyone to see," he said.
"There are not a lot of older players out there. There are some really good established players, and there's some young emerging talent coming through we're really excited by."
Suns leader and full back Sam Collins was sent for scans on his ribs after a second-quarter marking contest left him in immense pain, ultimately ruling him out of the remainder of the match.
