Jared Brennan has urged his Gold Coast SUNS teammates for one special effort against Hawthorn on Saturday, saying a poor showing would be a disastrous finish to their inaugural season.
The GC SUNS showed plenty of fight in Sunday's 30-point loss against Melbourne at the MCG, but have little to play for at Metricon Stadium this weekend but pride.
Speaking at the GC SUNS recovery session at Broadbeach on Monday morning, Brennan said despite it being a more taxing year than he expected, Gold Coast could not afford to start thinking about the end of the season one week early.
"It'd be a disaster to go out and give up in the first quarter this week," Brennan said.
"If you're getting flogged in the first quarter there's a lot of things that will go through your mind – the six weeks you get off, what you're going to do with your six weeks, a lot of things go through your mind.
"If Hawthorn do get the jump on us in the first quarter, we've got to stick to the structures and fight the game out as best as we can because it would be a disaster to finish off the season on a poor note."
Brennan said he thought the loss against Melbourne summed up the GC SUNS season perfectly – good in patches, but falling away too quickly in others.
He said they had a game plan that would be successful, but had to sustain it for longer periods.
Brennan is one of only three Gold Coast players – along with Jarrod Harbrow and Danny Stanley – to play all 21 matches this season, and said it had come at a cost.
"It has been a long season for me," he said.
"I think most of the senior guys are a bit like that as well, and I suppose a lot of the younger guys, so it's a collective thing.
"I've played a lot more match time than I did at Brisbane. It's definitely been a lot tougher than I thought. Not so much mentally, I knew it would be a tough battle mentally, but physically it's been a lot tougher than I thought."
Brennan said he was hopeful of avoiding any post-season surgery and would enjoy a full pre-season – something he missed out on before this year.
