Life isn't about to get any easier for Gold Coast defender Sam Collins when the Suns host AFL ladder-leaders Geelong on Saturday.
Collins has endured a couple of days to forget against opposition key forwards in the Suns' past two matches with West Coast's Jack Darling booting six goals at Metricon Stadium a fortnight ago and Jack Gunston's five-goal haul in last weekend's loss to Hawthorn.
The big Sun won't get a reprieve this weekend against the Cats with either Jeremy Cameron or Jack Hawkins to contend with.
Cameron is second in the Coleman Medal race having kicked 56 goals in his second season with the Cats while Hawkins is on 54 for the season.
With Geelong effectively one win away from securing the minor premiership, the potent Cats' forward line is going to be eager to fill their boots against a Suns team whose already-slim finals hopes were extinguished against the Hawks.
But teammate Sean Lemmens says the responsibility of stopping the Cats doesn't just lie with Collins.
"It's not like he gets a tough role every second week," Lemmens told AAP.
"He gets a tough role every single week.
"I don't look at it as in he's getting that role, I think us as a backline, we try to look after each other.
"We're a really connected group so whether he's getting goals kicked on him, I'm getting goals kicked on me, it's as a unit, as a backline, we're getting goals kicked on us.
"We need to support each other as much as we can and Collo's no different."
Geelong's rise to the top of the AFL ladder has come in a season where many pre-season predictions speculated Father Time may catch up on an ageing list.
Instead, Cats coach Chris Scott has his team purring ahead of September where they'll look to finally break a run of near misses and reach a first grand final since 2011 and a shot at a premiership.
The Cats' sustained success is a template Lemmens says the Suns' unashamedly aspire towards themselves.
"They're a fantastic club," Lemmens said.
"They don't build their club around one, two or three players.
"They have a kind of whole club approach on-field/off-field and I think that's what we are building here at the Suns.
"We're a whole club outfit, we're not just built around the one or two players. It's really important to us."
