AFL coaches Ross Lyon and Damien Hardwick have been involved in a war of words after the former's pre-game comments referring to the Suns as "the AFL nepo' baby".

Lyon's remark has earned the ire of Hardwick and the Suns, with the Gold Coast coach stating after his side's 19-point win over St Kilda that Lyon and his team should "focus on their own backyard".

Hardwick labelled Lyon's comment as "disrespectful" and pointed to the lowly Marvel Stadium crowd of 13,486 for the Saints' home game.

"Nepo baby? It's a little bit disrespectful I think," Hardwick said post-game.

"Trust me, I've been at Richmond and have come to the Gold Coast. We don't get a lot.

"What St Kilda could do is focus on their own backyard instead of trying to bring everyone else down. They had 13,000 people here today.

"We'll just focus on Gold Coast and they can focus on themselves. End of the day, the first place you need to look is internal."

Asked if he would speak to Lyon on the matter, Hardwick said "No, not particularly".

Lyon's comments are assumed to be in relation to Gold Coast's history of assistance from the AFL, having been handed priority draft selections and pick packages that have looked to aid the Queensland club's plans of contention.

2025 is shaping up as the first year the Suns will feature in finals, sitting third on the ladder with eight wins in 10 games.

Since Gold Coast's arrival for the 2011 season, the Saints have played just four September matches and have found limited luck from a priority draft perspective.