COMPARISONS between the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast are way off the mark, says Suns coach Rodney Eade.

Lions counterpart Justin Leppitsch fuelled the QClash rivalry ahead of Saturday's match by saying the Suns had been gifted more concessions than his club.

But Eade says it's an unfair comparison. 

The Suns' mentor says his club is still badly under-resourced and the Lions should look at established clubs for a fairer comparison.

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"He's comparing with us but they're an established club and we're just a start-up club," Eade said. 

"I was at the Brisbane Bears and we got draft picks and players, and then went to Brisbane and Fitzroy joined them, and they got more draft picks. 

"They've had the same 25 years ago, they won premierships.

"I would have thought Brisbane has to compare with Carlton and St Kilda and Melbourne."

Eade then took a veiled swipe at the Lions.

"They're an established club, had some success. Geelong have won three (flags) and they're still up, so they've made good decisions along the way," he said.

"I don't think you can compare them with us because we're different entities." 

Eade said there was still a misconception the Suns were doing well off-field. 

He said they had the second lowest football department spend in the competition and it had an impact on their on-field performance.

"We've got seven coaches, Brisbane have got 10, so we're under-resourced compared to other clubs," he said. 

"The facilities are poor, we're in portables, there's a whole range of things where we're behind other clubs.

"When you try and better yourself and get some staff to make your organisation better, it's disappointing the top teams who have got a lot of money want to criticise you for that, but they're quite happy to spend the money." 

Eade said extra money was no guarantee of success, "but generally the team that can spend the money is the team that is a chance for the premiership".