The Gold Coast Suns have reached a “fork in the road” for their season this week, according to defender Sam Collins.
The 3-6 Suns were demolished by Brisbane in the Q-Clash last weekend and now have the daunting task of playing the Cats in Geelong.
Following last week’s poor display, Collins said his side was setting itself to make a statement.
“What a great challenge to be presented as a team to respond from last week’s performance,” Collins told SEN’s Bob and Andy.
“It definitely excites us, it’s definitely a tough game, but we’ve reset ourselves after last week and we can’t dwell on it and we have to move forward and look at Geelong and the opportunity ahead.
“Dave Swallow said during the week that this is going to be one of the biggest games the club has to play for us because of where we are in our development and after the game last week, this is going to be one of the biggest games for us in how we front up against Geelong this week.
“Stewy Dew posed the question as kind of a fork in the road moment after the game and do we want to fall away or do we want to bounce back and get some trust back from the competition after we lost a bit on the weekend.
“It’s definitely a fork in the road for us to get back on board and get back on track. It’s really crucial for us. We don’t want to replicate seasons past.
“We want to be competitive for 22 games and build towards finals and we won’t shy away from that, but we need to start getting some runs on the board.”
Despite sitting 14th on the ladder, Collins said the club as a whole isn’t lamenting their season so far.
“I don’t think I’m disappointed with where we are as a group with 3-6. I think what I’m disappointed in and the team is disappointed in was our last performance against the Lions,” he said.
“It wasn’t up to scratch and for us that was a real outlier of our season so far.
“While we haven’t had the wins, we were playing some more consistent football before the Lions game and we were playing to our team expectations and those watching would have seen our growth as a group.
“I don’t think the season as a whole we’ve been disappointed in because we’ve definitely taken some steps forward and we need to continue to do so.”
The Suns will have at least one big inclusion this weekend, with Touk Miller returning from suspension.
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