Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has declared the Suns' nightmare nine-game losing streak as the most important period in the club's history.
Premiership favourites early in the season after a superb start in March, the Suns' 13-point defeat to Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Saturday has virtually eliminated them from the wildcard race.
Trailing by 12 points at the final break, the Suns opened the last quarter with three clutch goals to reclaim the lead.
But the final term followed the script of the first three quarters - Gold Coast start strongly, before the Blues break away late in the term.
George Hewett stepped up with a huge goal, while off-season recruit Will Hayward sealed the 16.14 (110) to 15.7 (97) win for the Blues with five minutes remaining.
Two weeks after coach Damien Hardwick prematurely declared Gold Coast's season over, he might have just been a fortnight early.
The Suns have crashed to 7-12 and 14th on the ladder, two games away from a wildcard spot with only four rounds left.
Hardwick labelled the spirit in the group as "strong as ever" and insisted the players hadn't "dropped their bundle".
That was despite an on-field altercation between high-profile recruit Christian Petracca and youngster Leo Lombard in the final quarter, which Hardwick brushed off.
"These nine games might be the most important in our club's history," he said.
"People sit there and go, 'what are you talking about?'.
"Well, I've been in situations before where situations like this have occurred, and you get the greatest growth from your darkest times.
"We're learning things along the way ... success isn't linear, but it might be the thing that actually sparks this into something pretty special."
Hardwick admitted he could draw parallels between this year and Richmond's infamous 2016 campaign, before he coached the Tigers to three premierships in four seasons.
"For whatever reason, we're not playing as well as we'd like," Hardwick said.
"We're not quite where we need to be, but we're not as bad as what the record would suggest.
"What we've got to do is keep turning it up, keep getting to work, keep believing in what we're doing, and keep pushing that barrel up the hill."
But Carlton, who began the season at 1-8 and dealt with the departure of coach Michael Voss, have jumped to 10th with a 9-10 record to give them a serious chance of featuring in finals.
"We haven't looked too far ahead."
— AFL (@AFL) July 25, 2026
Patrick Cripps on Carlton's wildcard hopes.#AFLBluesSuns pic.twitter.com/aNb7tHtDD4
The Blues' midfield brigade battered Gold Coast for most of the day, captain Patrick Cripps, Hewett (three goals, 24 disposals), Jagga Smith (31 touches) and Sam Walsh (31) all immense in deciding the result.
"We took the game on at the right times," interim Carlton coach Josh Fraser said.
"It wasn't perfect, I thought some of our fundamentals were quite poor at different stages.
"But we know we've got this work in front of us, and this will be ongoing."
Suns captain Noah Anderson stepped up early, slotting a goal of the year contender in the second term when he dodged through traffic and slipped two tackles to finish superbly.
Noah Anderson ARE YOU KIDDING?! 🤯#AFLBluesSuns pic.twitter.com/93cDJ3liwk
— AFL (@AFL) July 25, 2026
But Anderson's influence in the second half waned, as his opposing captain - Cripps - went to another level.
Cripps had a colossal 15 clearances from his 30 possessions to go with an important goal in the third quarter.
In his 150th game, veteran Carlton defender Nic Newman had an early finish after hurting his hamstring when wildly attempting to kick a loose ball in the first quarter.
Blues small forward Talor Byrne continued his improvement with an equal career-best three goals, missing two gettable chances to better his record.
