Gold Coast have given club stalwart Nick Holman a perfect send-off, beating St Kilda by 23 points in front of a sparse crowd of 14,429 at Marvel Stadium.
In a Thursday night dead-rubber with both teams unable to make finals, the Suns showed the type of form that had them early premiership favourites in March.
Led by powerhouse performances from Touk Miller and Matt Rowell, Gold Coast finished off a disappointing season by winning 14.19 (103) to 12.8 (80) to spoil Bradley Hill's impressive 300th game.
Without injured superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, St Kilda were unable to celebrate Hill's milestone as only the ninth Indigenous player to reach 300 VFL/AFL games.
The three-club veteran stepped up in a big way, gathering 42 possessions and recording 944 metres gained.
Miller (40 possessions, one goal), captain Noah Anderson (37 and one) and Brownlow medallist Rowell (28 possessions, 11 clearances) were outstanding in pushing the Suns out to a game-high 33-point lead late in the second quarter.
Gold Coast's star-studded midfield got the better of St Kilda, winning centre clearances 17-7.
In front by 28 points at three-quarter-time, Gold Coast had to withstand a late charge from the Saints to secure their ninth win of the season.
"There's some things that we've been working on, probably the last month ever since finals became unattainable," Suns coach Damien Hardwick said.
"We want to get back to the identity piece, how we played in the forward.
"There's some things we didn't get quite right this year, so we'll get to work on it."
Popular clubman Holman was playing his 145th and final game for the Suns after announcing his retirement earlier in the week.
Holman kicked a long goal after the quarter-time siren and was mobbed by teammates.
Young gun Leo Lombard and spearhead Ben King, who could be leaving to join Hawthorn during the trade period, led the goal-kicking with three each.
The Saints, whose wildcard hopes were dashed last week, were sloppy defensively and conceded a score from Gold Coast's first 10 inside-50s.
"Some really sloppy turnovers in the back half that you just can't survive, they're just not at the level," Saints coach Ross Lyon said.
"Somewhere where we've been really strong all year, our centre square bounces, they took us to the absolute cleaners."
Max Hall and Hugh Boxshall (three goals) were also influential for the Saints, who were also sending off defender Dougal Howard in his 100th game for the club.
Lyon said Howard was playing with a "disintegrated" ACL after a reconstruction back in 2016.
