SUNS Senior Coach Stuart Dew says his team will focus on competitiveness for the rest of the 2019 season.

Gold Coast matched Collingwood in the first term of the Round 20 clash at the MCG, before the Pies lifted their intensity in the second and third quarters.

The SUNS were able to make it an arm-wrestle in the fourth but the damage had already been done.

“Execution dropped first then our hardness in the middle two quarters,” Dew said post-match

“It unravelled a little bit from there and we weren’t able to get it back off them.

“It’s a pretty inexperienced backline but they fought on. 

“We’ve got to make sure we can deliver on our day as well.”

It doesn’t get any easier this week, with the SUNS facing the third-placed Brisbane Lions in QClash 18 at the Gabba this Saturday.

Dew said it presented another challenge for his team who are hungry for a win over its fierce rivals.

“For two quarters we competed and I think we pushed Collingwood,” Dew said. 

“We want to push Brisbane all the way and we’d love to knock them over at the Gabba. 

“But in the end it’s more about how we go about it, making sure that when a team beats us they’ve got to come through us and we don’t let them out through the front gate which at times we did today.

“We coughed the ball up far too much but there’s plenty to work on and educate. 

“I think that’s our focus, how competitive can we be and test ourselves.

“At this time of year when there’s no finals at the end of it, it’s easy to roll through but we’re certainly working with our leaders really hard and they’re working with us to make sure we finish the year off.”