FOLLOWING four rounds of exploration, Damien Hardwick is getting closer to settling on a line-up he thinks can take Gold Coast forward in the short-term.
Hardwick made a whopping seven changes to face Greater Western Sydney last week, continuing a selection trial-and-error that has characterised the Suns' 2-2 start under his watch.
Although not totally committing to retaining the status quo ahead of hosting Hawthorn on Saturday night, Hardwick said it was time to bed down some chemistry between his players.
"We have to get the synergy and connection in the side, and chemistry is really important to successful sides," he said.
"So we have to find out what that is and when we've discovered that, we've got to allow those guys to play. We think we're nearly there.
"We moved some players around positions and we're really happy with what we've seen. Now they've just got to connect with each other and understand how each other mix and mesh.
"That will become more evident over the next three to four weeks which is important to the synergy of the side, which will allow us to play some of our best football."
Gold Coast has exposed four debutants in the past two matches in Jed Walter, Ethan Read, Will Graham and Sam Clohesy, and Hardwick hinted Jake Rogers might also be closing in on a first game.
They have also shifted Jack Lukosius and Sam Flanders into defence after trialing Alex Sexton there earlier in the season.
Hardwick praised the prolific Flanders for accepting the change from midfield to half-back, describing him as a "wonderful player".
Despite sacrificing experience for youth, Hardwick said he still had the highest of expectations for his team.
"It is exciting, but what we have to realise is we have a side that we still firmly talk about playing finals, so those players are part of that journey.
"Youth for me is there, but we're not making excuses.
"We still sit there and say firmly we want to be a finals football club so those players are going to help us on the journey.
"Are we going to maybe take one step back to take two steps forward? Maybe. But we feel by putting them in now, getting the chemistry and connection working together, getting an understanding of what that looks like, it's only going to hold us in good stead the second part of the year."
