DEAN Solomon would love nothing more than for Gold Coast to upset his former club Essendon and dash its finals hopes on Saturday night.
The Bombers will start favourites in their final two matches against the Suns and Fremantle, and must win both to continue playing in September.
"They're striving to make the final eight and this is a big game for them, and it's one we'd love to snatch away and take that dream away from them," Solomon said on Thursday.
The former Essendon premiership player was handed Gold Coast's interim job after Rodney Eade was sacked last week and said he was loving every minute of it.
Solomon has been at the club for seven years as an assistant and made no secret of the fact he would love to be a senior coach.
His preference is to stay at the Suns, and the 37-year-old is expected to apply for the senior position once the season finishes.
While a win over the Bombers could only help his cause, Solomon said he hadn't given any thought to his future.
"In many ways I haven't had time to scratch myself over the last nine days to think long-term," he said.
"You've got to be across everything, managing not just players but staff, conduits between high performance coaches … it's a massive workload.
"I expected it would be, but until you've been in that seat you don't know what goes into it.
"Holistically it's a big job and I think this is the only way you get a feel for it is being in the hot seat.
"It'd be wrong if I started to think long-term. My focus is on the next two games."
CEO Mark Evans said the Suns needed Solomon next year, whether he was the senior coach or continued as an assistant.
"It's nice to hear, no doubt about that," Solomon said.
"Once these two games are out of the way I'll sit down with Mark Evans and the board about my future.
"That'll play out over the next 10 or 11 days."