GOLD Coast coach Damien Hardwick has shed some light on a frank review of the Suns' unexpected loss to North Melbourne last weekend.

Following the four-point defeat, Hardwick said his team had to "grow the f*** up", doubling down with his strong messaging early this week during a review of the performance.

Ahead of playing Port Adelaide at People First Stadium on Sunday, Hardwick made it abundantly clear to his players – and then the media – what he expected as a response.

"It's not something ideally as a coach you like to do, but there's a level of responsibility of coming and playing in a Suns jumper and the thing we focused on was our intent," he said.

"Our system was good (against North), we had 62 inside 50s, 32 forward-half turnovers and that's enough to win a game, but our general intent in and around the contest wasn't quite to the level."

Hardwick said the review, which was as intense as any this year, was led by the players as much as anyone.

"You can sit there and yell and scream all you want, but you've got to sit there and understand the game has to look a certain way for us to win," he said.

"The players are taking great ownership of that."

The Suns will be without both of their co-captains to face Port, with Jarrod Witts (back) still a week away from returning and Touk Miller (wrist) also sidelined.

Jed Walter has come in for Sam Day (foot), while a host of new faces have been named to an extended bench that will be finalised on Friday afternoon.

"When I talk about growing up, it's the general contest," Hardwick said.

"We have to be better in that part of the game for us to move forward.

"We have shown that when we do play to our capacity, we play a great style of footy in and around the contest."