Gold Coast is hell bent on using the heartache of missing out on a maiden September berth as fuel to drive next year’s finals ambitions, according to vice-captain David Swallow.

With seven wins from the opening nine rounds, a historic finals appearance appeared imminent for Guy McKenna and the GC SUNS, with early signs suggesting the young side from the holiday strip had genuinely arrived as a top-eight team following three years in the AFL.

But extended injuries to the game’s best player in Gary Ablett as well as tall timber in the form of Steven May, Charlie Dixon Tom Nicholls and Zac Smith conspired against the much-improved Queenslanders, while missed opportunities against the Western Bulldogs, Brisbane and Carlton severely impacted Gold Coast’s finals chances.

While the side looks to have rediscovered its zest for contested footy, Swallow said his team would be do its best to take positive motivation from its experiences in 2014.

“We’re a bit flat,” he told The Courier Mail.

“It is disappointing that we had such a flat spot. The past two weeks we have played okay, but we just haven’t been able to get the result we are after.

“That has got to be our standard now, that style of play. We have to learn from it and take that feeling of hurt into next year.

“You want to build momentum and belief, especially in the game plan, because we have shown when we do it well, we play well.

“So we have to keep working, keep driving for success. It is not going to come overnight, but if we play hard and fast like we know we can, we believe we will be hard to stop.”