GOLD Coast's season might effectively be over, but the Suns can’t limp through the final month without learning a bit to take them forward.

Whether they win all four remaining matches, lose all four, or finish with a record somewhere in between, 2026 has been nothing short of a disaster.

A historic semi-final appearance last year, the off-season acquisition of Christian Petracca and a 3-0 start to this season and things could hardly have looked better.

Now, on the back of an inconceivable nine straight losses, not only are their premiership hopes dashed, but barring some mathematical miracle, they won't even feature in the inflated top 10 Finals system.

However, that doesn't mean they can roll over in the final month with seemingly not much to play for. There is.

When the ball is thrown up for the Opening Round of 2027, Gold Coast will have no time to waste, with Damien Hardwick entering a fourth year, Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell as free agents and expectations of a deep Finals run.

What they discover in the next month could give the Suns a headstart on climbing the ladder again.

Just as it did with Sydney last season, winners of three of its final four matches, and a high-handball gamestyle change that partly accounted for victory against eventual premier, Brisbane.

With Ben King widely expected to take up an offer to join Hawthorn next year, who are the Suns relying on to carry their forward line?

Jed Walter is locked away, but where does Jamarra Ugle-Hagan fit? Or does he? The low-risk, high-upside acquisition last off-season has played just three games with a combination of a lack of match fitness and then injury, costing him.

Ugle-Hagan kicked 3.4 in a low-scoring VFL match last week and seeing what he has to offer over the final three or four matches might help inform the decision on whether to extend his time at the club (although his off-field conduct and hunger to improve should already have dictated that).

Then there's Mac Andrew. Highly talented and signed to a long-term contract, Andrew has had an up-and-down season.

Last week Hardwick threw him in as a back-up ruckman to support Ned Moyle. He had a stint earlier in the year in the same role.

Although the 22-year-old has spent most of his first five seasons in defence, could we see him as a ruck-forward for the next month with an eye to a long-term role there in 2027 and beyond?

He can jump over almost anyone at centre ball-ups and has shown a flair when used forward, kicking a goal-after-the-siren to beat Essendon in 2024 and then the game-tying major against Fremantle in the final moments of last year's elimination final victory.

To land Petracca and five Academy players in last year's draft, Gold Coast bid farewell to Ben Ainsworth, Sam Flanders, Connor Budarick, Brayden Fiorini and Malcolm Rosas Jnr.

The first four in that quintet were largely unheralded role players that were part of the club's historic first Finals win over Fremantle.

Perhaps their value was undersold, but identifying which players on the current list are prepared to sacrifice numbers and stick to a role, is critical.

Draftees Zeke Uwland (16), Dylan Patterson (four), Jai Murray (eight) and Beau Addinsall (six) have combined for 34 games this year, much more than anyone would have expected pre-season.

Along with second-year man Leo Lombard, they have exceeded expectations, but identifying who wants to play a selfless wing role or a hard-running – and often unrewarded - half-forward, is something they must settle on.

It's only four matches that will determine whether Gold Coast finishes 11th 12th, 13th, 14th or 15th, but the bigger picture is, how can it lay a blueprint for 2027?

Every game is an opportunity and the next four could determine some short, and long, term futures for the Suns.