WHILE Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna concedes it will now be difficult for the Suns to play finals, he says they are getting "little wins" along the way.
The Suns lost to Port Adelaide by nine points to slip to a 10-10 win-loss record and now need a mathematical improbability over the final two rounds to finish in the top eight.
They have lost eight of their past 11 matches and four of five since captain Gary Ablett suffered a season-ending shoulder injury last month.
But McKenna says they have improved in other areas that will help in the future.
On a wet day at Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast put in its best effort for five weeks, despite losing Greg Broughton (elbow) just prior to the match, and Charlie Dixon (quad) and Jack Martin (corked quad) during it.
Daniel Gorringe (knee) and Danny Stanley (shoulder) also finished under duress.
McKenna said although the polish wasn't there, the resolve was.
"We continue to learn more about our players and that's good," McKenna said.
"We're not winning at the moment, but individually there's some massive steps forward."
He pointed to Dion Prestia (25 disposals, 10 clearances) shaking a Kane Cornes tag that had limited him to just three touches in the first term.
There was tireless centre half-forward Tom Lynch, who finished with 18 touches and seven marks, and midfielder David Swallow (20 touches, 15 of them contested) who continues to battle manfully despite clearly carrying injuries.
"The growth in these boys has been fantastic," McKenna said.
"Has it led to us growing up the ladder? No it hasn't, we've stalled and hit a bit of a hurdle, but the growth individually of some of these boys has been fantastic."
McKenna conceded his young Suns were getting tired and it would now be "difficult" to make finals, but said they would not concede the season over the final two weeks against Essendon and Gold Coast.
"We've got nothing left in the tank but the boys are continuing to fight and push and drive ourselves to the last game of the season," he said.
"We were probably at some stage going to hit a wall. We've hit that wall but the thing is the boys have put their hands on it and keep pushing it back.
"The growth in their education as footballers has been enormous in the last month."
