Senior Coach Damien Hardwick says the SUNS squad will learn some ‘enormous lessons’ from its recent troubles.

The SUNS head into Saturday’s clash at Marvel Stadium against Carlton seeking their first win in nine matches, with Hardwick saying his side will grow from the back of a testing period.

“It is a challenging period, there is no doubt about that. But what I guarantee is that this playing group are going to learn some enormous lessons through this period at the moment,” Hardwick said.

“What we've just got to keep doing is keep working through it. We can't sit there and stop. We just want to move through it as quickly as possible.

“It's been challenging, there is no question. But every side, when they salute, they go through a period such as this. These periods are where you have the greatest growth.”

The SUNS’ obstacle is a rejuvenated Carlton side who, after seven straight wins, will be keen to bounce back from consecutive losses.

“They're playing a similar style (to Gold Coast). We know what they're doing very well as they're executing their roles.

“What I think Josh [Fraser] has added is an outside game that's become really apparent, a great identity piece for them. So we sort of know what we're up against.

“What they've been able to do is execute it really well, so we've got to take away a couple of those strengths and exploit a couple of the areas we think we can gain an advantage in as well.”

It’s a matter of fine-tuning ‘the 20%’ for the SUNS, who were made to pay for unforced turnovers against the Western Bulldogs last week in a game largely controlled by Hardwick’s side.

“We had a look at how 80% of last week was pretty good but our 20% was really bad.

“We had 34 giveaway turnovers and 22 of them were unforced, and we gave up seven goals in our forward half.

“Those giveaway turnovers, you can't defend those. So they're the real challenge for us and that's why we always talk about bending and not breaking.”

Hardwick also confirmed Jake Rogers and Lachie Gulbin will return to action this weekend via the VFL, while Lachie Weller is also on the cusp of being available again.

Saturday’s match gets underway at 1.05pm live on Fox Footy and Kayo, as well as the Seven Network in Queensland.