WHILE they were nowhere to be seen over a gloomy Aurora Stadium for much of Saturday afternoon, Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade said he sees ‘blue skies ahead’ despite his side’s latest heavy defeat, a 53-point loss to Hawthorn.

Having made life hard for the Hawks during a tight first half, the Suns were blown away after the main break and could only manage two further goals as they slipped to their eighth loss of the season.

With their list in tatters due to a string of injuries to key players – the latest of which is boom 20-year-old Jack Martin who damaged a hamstring in the opening minutes in Launceston - the Suns were never likely to match the reigning premier over four quarters.

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But Eade was generally positive about the path his Suns are taking as he looks to develop the club and culture in 2015.

“I think there’s some progress,” he said. “Internally, leadership and some culture and things like that that people aren’t going to see, we’re really getting some good traction.

“There are some encouraging signs there. We’ve still got another eight quality players to come in, plus what we do at the end of the year.

“I can see some blue skies ahead because we’re building the right way. It’s just going to take some time. I don’t think it’s going to take 12 months, but we’ve just got to hang in there as a group.”

While he quipped that the club’s reserves side might struggle to field a team in the coming weeks if the current injury ‘curse’ continued, Eade did manage to find a positive in the carnage.

“It’s just a curse and Saad and Sexton played the game out with sore groins. It’s never ending. There’s nothing we can do about it (and) I thought the boys played the game out pretty well to be honest.

“By extension, and you shouldn’t really care about the seconds, you feel sorry for the seconds because they’re not going to have enough players.

“It’s tough, it’s certainly a tough period we’ve been presented with, with the injuries we’ve got, and it’s how you work your way through that.”

WATCH: Rodney Eade's full press conference here

He also suggested that by having their hand forced at the selection table due to the current rate of attrition, there may also be a welcome shake-up within the playing group.

“On the playing field some of the players have been thrown in the deep end and I think they’re starting to show some signs and, hopefully, that batch of players will take over from players that have been here for three, four or five years who have probably rested on their laurels.

“Maybe some guys who’ve been here from the start think it’s a rite of passage and they’re just going to get games. Well, that’s not going to be the case.

“We’re going to pick a bit for the future but pick on form as well.”