Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has apologised to his players for an "overly emotional" reaction when he declared the Suns' season shot.
A furious Hardwick wrote Gold Coast's season off following a 79-point smashing by Adelaide last Saturday night - the club's seventh-straight defeat.
Although their form has been poor, the Suns are only one game off a wildcard spot with six matches remaining.
"I got overly emotional," a jovial Hardwick told reporters on Friday.
"It was just one of those games. It was so disappointing.
"I'm not one of these people that looks at the ladder too much, and I just overreacted.
"I apologised to the players because we've still got hope and belief that if we play our best footy we're capable of beating most sides in the competition.
"We spoke about that as a playing group, I apologised to them and we move forward pretty quickly."
Premiership favourites early in the season, Gold Coast's demise has led to reports of fractures within the club and playing group.
Hardwick insisted there was "nothing to worry about".
"I love the players, I think the players love me," he said.
"We've got a really good relationship. People will always sit there and pull apart clubs.
"We're not winning games - that's it in a nutshell. If we're winning games, these conversations aren't happening.
"We had high expectations at the start of the year, and we're not winning games.
"All of a sudden, people are looking for 'well, what's wrong?'
"I've got to coach better, I've got to get the side playing better, and that way we win more games, and then it will go away."
To make matters worse, video of Suns pair Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Mac Andrew leaving a disabled toilet during the State of Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium emerged on social media this week.
Ugle-Hagan and Andrew have denied any wrongdoing, the club believing their version of events.
"It's not an incident, two guys walked into a disabled toilet - it's inappropriate," Hardwick said.
"We spoke about that, it's disrespectful to the people that need it."
Andrew will play against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, while Ugle-Hagan is battling a calf issue and won't take on his former club at any level.
"When you've been out of the game 18 months it's hard ... he's working his way through that," Hardwick said of Ugle-Hagan.
"We're going to have these niggles along the way that sort of pop up.
"He's had ankles ... this is his second calf (injury).
"We've just got to make sure we get him on the park because he can play the game, we just want to see more of it."
