THERE'S a week of soul-searching ahead for Gold Coast after it copped a second straight hiding on Saturday, coach Stuart Dew says.

The Suns coach was critical of his team after it was overrun by Brisbane by 49 points at Metricon Stadium, just six days after copping a 73-point hiding from Adelaide.

SUNS FALL SHORT Full match coverage and stats

"AFL seasons aren't rounds one to four," Dew said.

"We can all get better … us included as coaches." 

Dew said Gold Coast was lucky to be within six points of the Lions at half-time and its effort simply wasn't good enough after the break.

While the contested footy (lost 135-134) and tackles (lost 69-59) looked close, Brisbane was dominant in the clinches. 

"We were really disappointed with our level of competing," Dew said.

"We had 10 players with one (tackle) or less – you just can't win games of AFL footy, regardless of who you play. 

"It's not capability, because we've done it for the first month.

"We need to look at how we compare in the first month compared to the last two weeks. Did we get comfortable, are we preparing the best, did we drop off a bit?

"We need to sift through that and drive the group forward."

After three successive wins, the QClash loss has dropped the Suns to a 3-3 record ahead of a trip west to play premier West Coast.

Dew said the Suns needed to "dig deeper" with their mental preparation. 

"One week you could say we were down, but now it's happened again. 

"Let's make sure we're spot on with everything. 

"We don't want to go two steps forward and one step back, we'd rather edge our way forward and continue improving."