DAMIEN Hardwick has spoken to Gold Coast players and acknowledged his post-match comments describing the Suns' season as "effectively gone" were incorrect and a mistake.
Vice-captain Sam Collins told media on Tuesday morning Hardwick had addressed the group following his hotly debated comments on Saturday night.
"If you know Dimma he's an extremely competitive coach, like he was a player, and he knows there's still hope and he's addressed that to the group," Collins said.
"He's acknowledged a bit of a mistake. He was extremely emotional after the game, as were a lot of us.
"He's acknowledged his words were incorrect.
"He fully believes if we get back to playing the football we should play, we go week by week and start banking the wins, then we can make it into the finals.
"That's our goal as a footy club."
Gold Coast has lost seven successive matches to plummet to 14th place after the weekend's 79-point hammering from Adelaide.
Although Hardwick suggested following the loss it was bordering on mathematically impossible to make the top 10, five or six wins out of the final six matches would get the job done.
The Suns changed up their usual weekly routine by ditching a light on-field session on Tuesday and switching it for some meetings and off-legs training.
"The playing group knows the season isn't done," Collins said.
"As a footy club, we're not going to write ourselves off when there's a glimmer of hope for us to make the wildcard game.
"We're trying to build a footy club that's right for sustained success.
"Touk, Wittsy and the guys that have been here for a long time, we haven't stuck around just to see us falter and not make finals.
"We want to be a playing group that sets this club up for the future. That's the legacy we want to leave. We can make the wildcard game."
Collins said the Suns had turned over every leaf to arrest their mid-season slide, but Sunday’s match against the Western Bulldogs at People First Stadium was about keeping things simple.
"We want to play with freedom and flair," he said.
"We're at the point now where we need to release the shackles a bit. We've been heavily scrutinising our own game internally … as a consequence, we're maybe tightening up on field.
"We need to bring that competitive spirit … and play selfless footy, team-first footy."
