"It's not something ideally as a coach you like to do," he said.
"But there's a level of responsibility of coming and playing in a Suns jumper and the thing we focused on was our intent".
Hardwick's instantly infamous "grow the f*** up" rebuke after last week's narrow loss to North Melbourne still rings around the club.
"When I talk about growing up, it's the general contest," Hardwick said.
"We have to be better in that part of the game for us to move forward.
"We have shown that when we do play to our capacity, we play a great style of footy in and around the contest."
Suns players get a chance to respond on Sunday in a home clash against Port Adelaide of great significance.
Gold Coast entered the round 12th, just one win shy of eighth place, with the Power in sixth, a win behind second spot.
And Hardwick said it was time for action, not talk.
"You can sit there and yell and scream all you want," he said.
"But you've got to sit there and understand the game has to look a certain way for us to win.
"The players are taking great ownership of that.
"Our system was good (against North), we had 62 inside 50s, 32 forward-half turnovers and that's enough to win a game.
"But our general intent in and around the contest wasn't quite to the level."
That puts the blowtorch on Gold Coast's midfield brigade headed by Matt Rowell, who hasn't reached 25 disposals in his past four games, and Noah Anderson, who had just three clearances in the loss to the Roos.
The duo confront a Power midfield fresh from a torching of the Western Bulldogs - captain Connor Rozee, vice-captain Zak Butters, Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines and Jason Horne-Francis.
10°C