MUCH like Paul Keating talking about Australia's recession in the early 1990s, Gold Coast leader Jarrod Harbrow said Monday's brutal team review was one they had to have.

Following Saturday's humiliating 120-point loss to Geelong, the Suns sat down for a two-hour session of honest feedback on Monday, in which every player from top to bottom challenged one another. 

Harbrow said the mechanics of flipping the result was simple – Gold Coast had to improve its effort. 

"We certainly just can't brush it off and move on," he said.

"It was an important review we had to have. 

"You could use the term brutal, but I think it was just open and honest with each other.

"I think we know that when we're playing at our best we're doing all the basic, simple things.

"We can't walk around with our head in our hands. It's about getting back to doing what we know we can do and that's pressure and bringing effort."

The Suns host Melbourne at Metricon Stadium on Saturday in what shapes as a critical early-season match with both teams hovering just outside the top eight.

Harbrow will become the first Gold Coast player to register 100 games in Suns colours, and said the team had to look at the smaller picture.

He said it came down to winning each individual contest.

Despite watching Greater Western Sydney thump Hawthorn at the weekend, Harbrow said he was not frustrated by the rapid rise of the Suns' fellow expansion outfit.

"Good on them, I think they're playing well. They're obviously playing as a team and doing all the little things we're not doing at the moment," he said. 

"They're playing well … they deserve it. We're not there, we want to be there.

"At the end of the day it comes down to hard work and we're not doing that at the moment."