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Gold Coast midfielder Will Brodie was hurt late in his fine AFL match on Saturday as the Suns showed plenty of improvement, despite losing to Carlton.

Gold Coast fear Will Brodie has suffered a hamstring injury late in his outstanding AFL performance against Carlton star Patrick Cripps.

Brodie was pushed over in the last quarter and the luckless Suns fear it caused some damage.

"We're not sure what it looks like, but he's a little bit sore," said Suns coach Stuart Dew.

Brodie kept the Carlton co-captain quiet and his 10 tackles and six clearances headlined a much-improved performance from Gold Coast, who lost no friends despite losing by four goals.

It puts the Suns two games clear at the bottom of the ladder with five rounds left.

While Gold Coast's losing streak is now 13, they were much better than their last two horror maulings from Richmond and Adelaide.

They were 43 points down, 13 minutes into the third term, but closed out the quarter with five out of six goals to roar back into the contest.

It was a strong sign that the Suns rallied during the quarter, not after a break.

Gold Coast won the tackle count 90-72 and also finished eight ahead in contested possessions.

"When you keep showing up, that's important - it's not hoping that all of a sudden they (Carlton) are going to turn it over and give you an easy one," Dew said.

"As simple as it is, it was getting after the ball first, getting our hands on it first and then being clean with it.

"Then if they happen to get theirs on it, get after them as quick as possible."

Despite the Suns not being able to go on with it in the last quarter, Dew said there are strong signs for the rest of the season.

"This week's been firmly on one thing and that was obviously making sure that we put something in place ... to finish the year off," he said.

"It's one-sixth, four quarters down and we only won one of those quarters, but strong competing.

"There's a tick in terms of response, but the challenge is there for another five weeks."