By Michael Whiting

With his team on the bottom of the ladder with four matches to go, Gold Coast SUNS coach Guy McKenna has rejected the suggestion that it is tempting to stay there and collect the No.1 NAB AFL Draft pick.

The SUNS take on Greater Western Sydney next week at Metricon Stadium after the Giants leapfrogged them on the ladder with a solid win over Port Adelaide on Saturday.

The match will most likely decide the fate of Vic Country star Lachlan Whitfield, who is a near certainty to be taken with the first draft pick, but in a week during which talk of tanking has again dominated the football conversation, McKenna said improving its place in the draft order was not a priority for his club.

If tanking is an issue in the AFL, one thing we're trying to build here is respect and confidence in this group. We think with our list build we've had enough picks and I think we've seen it, he said.

"If it comes along and we get a pick that's great, we're not going to knock that back, but it's about building confidence and respect in the AFL and that's what we're about. And I reckon the best way of doing that is winning, quite simply, and that's what we're about."

McKenna was not concerned with comparisons between his team and the Giants and said the SUNS didn't rate themselves according to the form of their fellow AFL expansion team.

"I couldn't care less about them. It's about us getting respect in the competition and we need to play our best footy with our best players that were available to be picked," he said.

If we do that consistently, we get respect and get confidence and we start winning and where we finish is up to the rest of the competition and we get to choose where we finish by the way we play.

The SUNS were given a strong chance in Sunday's game against Melbourne but a six goals to none first quarter blew them out of the water and they never really looked likely to win on the day.

McKenna said intent rather than familiarity with the MCG was the key difference between the two teams.

"I think it was more just a choice. We just chose to be second to the footy. I reckon that was the reason our positioning looked as different as it was," he said.

"If you choose to get to the right positioning and get to the contest, all of a sudden all those structures look really good. Quite clearly after quarter-time those structures looked good."