Saturday’s performance against a strong Sydney Swans football club is the benchmark from which a developing Gold Coast SUNS side can mark themselves against.

The challenge for this group now is to deliver it week in week out.

Progress and improvement in sport and with athletes won’t ever be perfectly linear but the lessons learnt are all pivotal as the club continues to chase improvement.

“We were off the week before and got exposed against the Western Bulldogs in the first half and that was a harsh lesson but it's a lesson that's going to hold us in good stead,” General Manager of Football Jon Haines said on Tuesday morning.

“We know that we're on a journey and there's going to be some ups and downs at times, but if we bring our best, then we can compete with anyone.”

“In different games over the past 12-18 months we've shown that capability.”

It’s something professional sporting teams throughout the world are striving to achieve, week in, week out and the Gold Coast SUNS are no different.

“That's part of the challenge of elite sport,” Haines said.

“When we apply good pressure to the opposition and when we play our style, we’re a really strong team.”

“Our challenge is to do that consistently not only through the course of a game, but through the course of a season and that's what working really hard on.”

That challenge continues this week as the team prepares to take on Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday afternoon, a ground they’ve only played at 14 times in the past.