The Gold Coast SUNS have enjoyed success on five occasions so far this season, one short of their combined 2011 and 2012 tallies and at the half way mark of the current Premiership campaign.

Reflecting on their 15-point win over North Melbourne on Saturday night, outstanding defender Trent McKenzie said it was the teams best result since entering the national competition.

“We got off to a slow start but we knew if we stuck to our structures then we would be in with a good chance, and I think the way the boys just fought on really showed the character of the playing group,” McKenzie said.

Oddly left to run free for much of the second half, McKenzie’s much celebrated drop-punt was again on full display, the "Cannon" creating multiple goal-scoring opportunities for his Gold Coast team mates.

“It was one of my better games but I have to hand it to the forwards and midfielders who took my opponent up forward, and because of that luckily I was able to get a few kick-outs and help pressure the opposition on the scoreboard," McKenzie said.

25 points in arrears after a poor first term, It was clear Guy McKenna’s words at the quarter-time break stuck and the playing group returned to the field with a renewed sense of urgency and they were able to not only chase the Kangaroos down, but jump into a lead that they would hold until the final siren.

“We were trying to play dry footy and obviously in the conditions we couldn’t do that, but once we got back to the basions in the second quarter things began to change for us,” he said.

But while the rapidly-improving Gold Coast SUNS now sit just one win outside a place in the top 8, McKenzie says the side is solely focused on improving and developing in all aspects of their game.

“It’s where we want to be heading obviously but we have some tough weeks coming up,” he said.

“If we can play consistent footy than we’ll certainly continue to be pushing towards that.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Gold Coasters though, with the side set to take on a spirited Essendon team which also showed their ability to come-back from behind after the genuine premiership contenders fought hard against Carlton in their Friday night blockbuster.

“It will be tough next Saturday night, but we just have to play all four quarter as we showed against Hawthorn and Geelong,” said McKenzie.

“We know that we can match it against the best teams in the competition and hopefully with a good performance we can carry some momentum heading into the rest of the season.”