'It's gonna be on': Robertson warned to expect fire from 'soft' Suns

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has warned Nick Robertson to expect fire from Queensland rivals Gold Coast on Saturday.

Robertson stunned his club when he provided an honest assessment of the Suns during a Macquarie radio interview on Thursday.

“I’m looking forward to getting stuck into them on the weekend and so are all the other boys,” Robertson said.

“I reckon they’re soft to be completely honest so I’m looking forward to getting into them. It’s just the rivalry. They reckon they’re the team in Queensland and so do we.”

The 23-year-old made sure Gold Coast knew he meant his words, adding: “I think they take a bit of a backward step when blokes go hard at the footy. I hope they hear that too.”

It didn’t take long for Fagan to get on to Robertson after the club’s media team informed him of his player’s words.

The first-year coach knew it would set up a fiery clash at Carrara.

“I was none too happy at all because it doesn’t reflect our view of the Gold Coast Suns,” he told 3AW radio.

“It’s more Nick’s feeling, I guess, towards them and he’s probably gone off and said those things and now regrets them. I think he’ll learn a valuable lesson from it.

“He’s going to front up there on the weekend and it’s gonna be on. He’s got to put his head over the footy and play hard and tough.”

Robertson never seems to take a backwards step on the field and has gone toe-to-toe with Lance Franklin twice over the last two seasons.

So while it’s debatable that he truly regrets his comments, his criticism of the Suns was at least a little surprising given their first meeting of the year.

Gold Coast defeated Brisbane in front of the Lions’ home fans in round five having led at every change.

“Nick’s a passionate competitor and within the walls of the club he often says what he thinks fairly directly and obviously had the opportunity on media (duties) today,” Fagan said.

“I think if he had his time again he’d take those words back but they popped out nevertheless and obviously great motivation for the Gold Coast Suns and something we need to prepare ourselves for on the weekend.”

Both teams sit on four wins for the season and the victor this weekend will likely finish above the other, barring any upsets in the final round.