Gold Coast utility Jarrod Harbrow has warned his young side can’t rely on fast starts every week as the club moves in to the toughest part of its home and away season.

For the second match in a row at Etihad Stadium, the GC SUNS jumped out of the blocks; in round 7 they kicked 7.4 against North Melbourne and on Sunday the Saints were blown out of the water with the visitors taking a 52-20 lead in to the first change.

The SUNS have a percentage of 158 in the first term of matches this season, but they are below the 100-mark in every other quarter over the first eight weeks of the competition.

With matches to come against AFL heavyweights Sydney, Geelong, Hawthorn and Collingwood over the next seven weeks, Harbrow said the team still has plenty of room for improvement when it comes to making the most of quality starts.

“Our third quarter (against St Kilda) was really poor,” Harbrow said.

“We’ll have a look at that at the review in the coming days.  Certainly can’t let sides come back at us like that because we don’t want to be chasing.

“Happy with the win, but definitely need to improve.”

Gold Coast is now on a four-match winning streak, and three of those victories have been achieved in Melbourne.  Prior to this season, the club had tasted success just once in the Victorian capital. 

The SUNS are back home at Metricon Stadium on Sunday against another side chock-full of young talent, the Western Bulldogs; Harbrow’s former team.

“We always love playing back at home,” he said.

“We definitely notice the crowd and they get us going and up and about.

“We can’t wait to take the Doggies on.  Hopefully we attack them and play four quarters this time.”