GOLD Coast's results for the rest of the season are likely to dictate whether the club gets back rights over pick 19 at this year's NAB AFL Draft, after the Suns were banned from trading the selection last season.

And a decision on whether the Suns can select their Academy products without having to match bids for the third successive year is also unlikely to come before the end of the season.

The Suns have had an underwhelming start to 2021, winning just one of their first five games and were kept to one goal in the first half by the Western Bulldogs in last Saturday's defeat.

The club was given a range of list concessions at the end of 2019 to help lift it off the bottom of the ladder, including a priority pick that season that saw them select Matt Rowell at No.1 as well as fixed picks for the 2020 and 2021 drafts.

The club previously had full licence to trade any of the priority picks, as they did with their No.11 pick for the 2020 intake in a deal with Geelong on the draft night in 2019.

However, in October last year, after the Suns' promising campaign, the AFL blocked the club from making any deal involving their start-of-second-round selection at the 2021 draft (which will be No.19 before any free agency compensation picks are added).

A decision on whether the Suns retain access to the draft selection, or whether it comes with any caveat - for example, that it can be used at the draft but not in a trade - is not expected until much deeper into the season.

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When announcing its three-year assistance package for the Suns, the League acknowledged it could review the concessions annually based on the progress of the club, which is yet to make the finals in its 10 completed years in the competition.  

As part of its help from the AFL, Gold Coast was given access to automatically list its Academy players over the past two years without having to match bids from rival clubs. It allowed the Suns to recruit the likes of talented trio Connor Budarick, Alex Davies and Joel Jeffrey as pre-selections, but it is unclear if that will end in 2021.

The Suns last year moved some of their picks into this year's pool to ensure they would have points if the AFL made them get back to matching bids, with key forward Ned Stevens (from Darwin), Austin Harris and Jye Lockett, the nephew of goalkicking legend Tony, among the prospects tied to the Suns' Academy this year.