SUNS Senior Coach Stuart Dew is taking it as a positive that the SUNS have been involved in so many tight affairs in 2019.

Gold Coast lost to Melbourne in the final second of the match last weekend, marking the fifth game this year the club has had decided by less than a goal (three wins, two losses).

Speaking on SEN’s Whateley program on Tuesday morning, Dew said that despite the toll on his blood pressure, he was happy to see his team having a crack at winning games, even if it meant risking a loss.

“I think the competitive effort, the fact that we’re running games out really strong is important to us,” Dew said.

“We lost Sean Lemmens early on the weekend which was disappointing for him and us as well but in terms of our output we didn’t notice the difference.

“It’s a real shift this year that we look stronger running across the ground.”

His side currently sits with a 3-5 record, which could easily have been 5-3 if the results fell his way. 

But Dew stressed that it wasn’t as simple as wins and losses for his group.

He said the players needed to believe in their process rather than the end result.

 “I think we’re just trying to build belief within our group,” Dew said. 

“We know that externally there was low expectations but I think internally we want to make sure we’re not subscribing to that and falling into line with that.

“We’re challenging our players each week.

“The reality is it does take time, but you’re trying to speed that process up as much as you can without losing sight of where you want to get to.

“You can’t get to D without going through A, B and C.”