REACHING finals is a pass mark for Gold Coast in 2017, provided it has a reasonable run with injury, according to coach Rodney Eade.

The Suns battled injury to key players through the middle of the season but have won six games in 2016 and been within eight points in their past three games.

Tom Lynch and Jarrod Harbrow have been the only two Suns' players to play every game this season. 

While pre-season expectations have not been met this year, an optimistic Eade told AFL.com.au the list was capable of winning a premiership, particularly with the talented spine of Lynch, Steven May, Peter Wright, Rory Thompson and Sam Day.

"Everyone talks about the spine as the basis for a premiership team," Eade said.

"There are a few little areas where we need to get better.

"We need to develop greater resilience. We need to develop a bit more run but with our best team we are quite quick but need to develop a bit more consistency with that as well.

"There are some areas we can tinker with but I think we have the basis for it."

Eade said the club would be interested in adding depth to his defensive stocks and expected the club to be active in the trade period.

He said the spine was the best he had coached in his 371-game coaching career but he stopped short of describing key forward Lynch as the best player in the game, a claim former Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown made a fortnight ago.

"I don't think he is there and I don't think Tom Lynch thinks he is there yet either. There are certain parts of his game that he has to improve and he knows that," Eade said.

"The bigger players don't peak until they're 26, 27 or 28. I think it is great for us but probably scary for the rest of the competition."

Eade also expressed confidence that out-of-contract Suns' ruckman Tom Nicholls would remain with the club beyond 2017.