DAMIEN Hardwick was relieved Gold Coast eked out a six-point win over Collingwood on Friday night, but still wasn’t prepared to drop the ‘F’ word.
Rather than talk about the possibility of playing finals for the first time in club history, Hardwick said his 11-5 Suns were interested in their “next shift”.
In a rollercoaster prime time contest, Gold Coast led by 40 points late in the first half, were headed midway through the final quarter and steadied to upset the competition leaders.
With a game in hand over their rivals they will finish round 18 inside the top eight.
Hardwick said while beating the Magpies was “big” from a psychological standpoint, his focus was still very narrow.
“We’ve just finished a block, so we’re into our next block of four (games),” he said.
“We finished this block 3-1, it was a challenging block, but we move to the next block which looks like Adelaide and Brisbane the next two weeks.
“We can go there (thinking about finals) and want our players to understand that’s what we’re aiming for, but we’ve got to get our thoughts back on the next shift and that next shift is Adelaide.
“That’s what the very best sides are doing. We’re learning, we’re growing. We’ve still got a way to go, but we’re excited about what we can be.”
Gold Coast had to show a level of maturity against the competition pacesetters, relying on goals from Ben Long and captain Noah Anderson in the fourth quarter to wrestle back the lead.
Hardwick said his team went into their shells when conceding eight of nine goals in a second half onslaught from the Magpies.
“We didn’t offensively challenge them at all,” he said.
“The positive for us is we won the game. We’re not sitting there reviewing the game and we didn’t get the four points. There’s some good growth in there for us.
“We talk about a Suns team that fights and scraps and refuses to be beaten and I reckon they showed that again today.”
The Suns will likely be without Touk Miller for a period of time after he left the field during the second quarter with a hamstring injury, although Hardwick was unsure of its severity.
Collingwood also had to play the second half without defender Jeremy Howe, who suffered a groin injury coach Craig McRae described as “minor”.
McRae said he preferred to focus on the positives of the Magpies’ performance after they went goalless in the first two-and-a-half quarters of the contest.
“Late in the game we had a couple of chances to add pressure and didn’t take them,” he said.
“I want to focus on what we did do instead of what we didn’t. That second half was way more how we want to play.”
McRae said Gold Coast’s intensity around the ball was superior in the first half.
“I just didn’t love our mids at times tonight,” he said.
“I didn’t think we worked hard enough to contest, didn’t get our hands dirty enough. That would be disrespecting Gold Coast … they were dominant around contest and clearance in that first half.”
Star midfielder Nick Daicos endured a rollercoaster night, tweaking his ankle early on and then copping a big hit from Connor Budarick that appeared to wind him.
It forced McRae to move Josh Daicos from half-back to the midfield, with his incredible 16-disposal, two-goal final quarter almost lifting the Magpies to the four premiership points.
“Yeah, (Nick) looked sore. I’m watching him run, and on the tape, and he wasn’t getting to the contest like we love him to.
“Nick looked a bit sore at times tonight and we tried to move him around … he’ll be better for it.
