DAMIEN Hardwick was right in saying Gold Coast doesn't deserve to make finals the way it's currently playing, but to label it mathematically impossible is just plain wrong.
And Hardwick should know better.
Coaches are understandably emotional in the 30-minute window following a match when they're required to front the media, but Hardwick has 372 games of experience to regulate his thoughts.
He's not so much speaking to journalists, but his supporter base and players.
To label what Hardwick said following Saturday night's 79-point loss to Adelaide as a 'glass half empty' mindset would be generous.
"This year is effectively gone," he said.
"What we've got to do is forge our way forward with what we want to look like for next year.
"It becomes pretty much mathematically impossible doesn't it, at this stage? Or close.
"The way we're playing, we don't deserve to make it."
With six matches left in the home and away season, the Suns are in 14th place.
However, they are just one win and 10 per cent behind St Kilda, which occupies the 10th and final spot in the race for the newly added Wildcard Round.
Despite losing seven straight matches, Gold Coast is definitely a mathematical chance to play in September.
Win all six and it is in. Win five and it is a reasonable chance. Four or less and you're praying for a miracle.
They have a middle of the road draw to come, but Hardwick should know more than anyone that strange things can happen late in seasons.
In 2014 his Richmond outfit sported a 6-10 win-loss record (the Suns are currently 7-10) at the corresponding stage of the year.
The Tigers had already won three straight, but still sat three games, plus percentage, outside the finals picture.
Three games out with six remaining. That sounds far more "mathematically impossible" than his current team, but the Tigers finished eighth.
Gold Coast has to beat the Western Bulldogs at People First Stadium on Sunday to have any chance. That's not impossible is it?
Then it's Carlton, which might be coming off the boil, at Marvel Stadium, followed by Melbourne (home), Greater Western Sydney, Brisbane and the Saints – all on the road.
It's unlikely, but if you squint and see Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Christian Petracca clicking, Ben King, Jed Walter and the returning Ben Long winning contests ahead of the ball, and Sam Collins, Mac Andrew and Bodhi Uwland winning them behind the ball, it's not that far-fetched.
'Dimma' loves themes to motivate his teams.
Might be time to whip out something from his Tigers of 12 years ago.
