Sam Collins says Gold Coast has already moved on from Sunday’s heavy loss against Carlton and expects the result to be a “blip on the radar” by season’s end.
The SUNS were hammered by 59 points by the Blues, conceding nine unanswered goals in a disastrous second quarter.
Following a light training run at Carrara on Tuesday, vice-captain Collins said they had taken the lessons from the result, but were confident it was an anomaly rather than a pattern.
“It’s disappointing to come in here (after losing), we’re all a bit flat, but we bounce out of the review are ready to go this weekend,” Collins said.
“Football is a game of ups and downs, you don’t win them all.
“You have some shocking quarters, like we did, but it’s one quarter against a really strong body of work.
“We’re confident in what we’ve got, we’re confident in the playing group and the gameplan, the coaching staff, and the whole club is ready to push on and have a good game against Hawthorn.”
Prior to Sunday’s game, Gold Coast had won five of its previous seven matches, with the only losses coming in the dying seconds against Melbourne and after pushing Brisbane for three quarters.
Collins said there were lessons to learn, with the defenders, midfielders and forwards all responsible for lapses against Michael Voss’ men.
He said there was no extra motivation to arrest the negative storylines surrounding the SUNS ahead of playing the Hawks at Heritage Bank Stadium on Sunday.
“You guys (media) would be out of a job if there isn’t a narrative after every week,” he said.
“There’s always going to be a number of teams that lose every week and there’s always going to be a story about that, and people are going to write what they want.
“We’ve got a really strong body of work and absolutely back-in our system. Hopefully by the end of the season it’s just a blip on the radar.”