ANOTHER week, another Damien Hardwick rant.

The Suns coach has lashed a "baffling" 50m standing-on-the-mark penalty following his side's 49-point loss to Hawthorn. 

His latest gripe comes just one week after he labelled the holding the ball rule a 'chook lotto'.

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The contentious stand rule reared its head late in the third quarter when the game was in the balance, gifting Hawks defender Tom Barrass a goal. 

The Suns conceded the 50m penalty after there was confusion between Jarrod Witts and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan about who was being called by the umpire to move off the mark. 

Barrass was given a saloon passage to a goal, which gave his side a 75-60 lead on the eve of three-quarter time. 

"The third quarter we got the game back on our terms and then gave up ... the 50m penalty, which was baffling," Hardwick said.

"From what I gather the umpire called stand, so Jamarra and Jarrod are standing and then Jarrod decides to leave because he says 'move out' and then all of a sudden it's a 50.

"Common sense has to prevail at some stage. The game's hard enough for the umpires to do at present with the holding the ball stuff and now this manning the mark stuff, so can we just simplify it a bit?

"I don't know what that looks like, but someone needs to take charge."

Hardwick said players were struggling to work out the rule, and that he sought clarification from umpires after a penalty against Richmond's Ben Miller on Friday night.

"We went through three examples that the AFL sent to us - that should be 50s," Hardwick said.

"There was one clear one, that we thought 'Yep, that's what the rule was brought in for', and there were two others that's just causing confusion ... Everyone has got a different interpretation."

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell praised his side, but said it still had work to do managing momentum swings.

The Hawks controlled much of the opening half and surged to a 46-point lead midway through the second quarter, but they let their early dominance slip. 

Gold Coast kicked the last four goals of the first half - including two in the last 20 seconds - and booted the first two goals of the third term to bring the margin back to nine points. 

"As a team we know we've got some maturing to do in regards to momentum swings," Mitchell said.

"There were some things that were well within our control. Sometimes you get goals scored against you in footy and that's ok, but sometimes they're within your control and its against what you're trying to achieve.

"But I was really pleased with the mentality of the players halfway through the third, because the game was well and truly slipping away from us ... so for the players to be able to respond and pull away to what ended up a reasonable sized win, showed enormous maturity."