TOUK Miller says it's time Gold Coast shook its "nice club" tag and became more physical.

The Suns have been criticised for many things in a disappointing 2017, with a lack of grunt high on the list.

Miller, who is in the club's leadership group, said it was something Gold Coast had worked on since he came to the club almost three years ago.

"We do talk about it every year that we want blokes to be a little bit more aggressive," he said.

"I think we get labelled as a nice club a bit too often and we're really trying to shake that off, and that only comes on the field.

"We have to make sure we get a bit more white line fever about ourselves and do it to other teams."

Co-captain Tom Lynch is one player that regularly asserts himself physically and copped a $1500 fine for an incident involving Western Bulldog Jack Redpath on Saturday.

Miller said his teammates loved Lynch's passion.

"He's doing it not because he's angry at himself, but because he has passion for the team and he doesn't like losing.

"It's that competitive edge he brings.

"It comes up in reviews as a positive that he's showing a bit of fight for the jumper and we respect that highly."

Gold Coast has plummeted out of finals contention with three straight losses ahead of its match against Richmond at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.

Star midfielder Gary Ablett (hamstring) needs to pass a fitness test on Thursday to play, while co-captain Steven May (hamstring) is expected to miss another match.

Miller said the scrutiny on out-of-contract coach Rodney Eade was unfair.

"I think it's easy for people to target him rather than individual players because there's 18 on the field whereas there's only one coach in the box," he said.

"I think it's easy for him to come under fire, and personally I don't think it's very fair, and as a team and as a club we're moving forward together."