STUART Dew says there will be changes to Gold Coast's team to play Carlton on Sunday, but is still unsure whether Izak Rankine will be one of them.

Rankine has missed the past two weeks with a corked quad, but completed training earlier in the week and will have to run strongly at the main session on Thursday night.

The Suns lost to Greater Western Sydney by 26 points last Saturday, a margin Dew said flattered his team.

While the coach is confident Gold Coast will bounce back, he said players from its 2-0 VFL team deserve to be rewarded.

 "There'll be some change and largely due to the form underneath," Dew said.

"We want to try and reward those lads that have shown up a couple of weeks in a row and done well over the pre-season. It's not knee jerk.

"It will be good to get a couple of guys in there that have played some good footy and give them an opportunity."

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Small forward Mal Rosas is right in the frame with seven goals in two weeks, as is hybrid forward Josh Corbett, who kicked five goals in the season-opener against the Northern Bullants before being the unused med-sub against the Giants.

Dew said the Suns would have to be harder around the contest against the 3-0 Blues.

"What we look at is a body of work in terms of our trial games and in-season and that gives us confidence we can generate good heat around the ball and we can win our own ball," he said.

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"One game doesn't define us, but it puts us on the hook for this week."