Although the Gold Coast SUNS couldn’t get the win in Friday night’s final pre-season game against Adelaide, there were still plenty of positives to take out of the hit out according to midfielder Matt Rosa.

Inaccurate kicking hurt the home team in the opening half at Metricon Stadium with the SUNS going down by 25 points despite registering four more scoring shots.

However Rosa told SUNS TV after the game the effort by his side across four quarters was encouraging.

“There was some promising signs,” Rosa said.

“We probably just didn’t make the most of our opportunities.

“The effort was really good but just a little bit of polish. We didn’t finish off our work, a bit scrappy and a bit fumbly at times, so that’s something we’ll work on over the next couple of weeks but it was pleasing that the effort was there.

“We gave away a few sloppy free kicks early (in the third quarter) and they kicked a couple and we couldn’t get back on top but I thought we fought it out really well towards the end and we’ll butter up and get better.”

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The former West Coast star finished the game with 22 disposals in just his second appearance in SUNS colours and appeared to slot in well across the midfield, linking up nicely with the likes of Aaron Hall, Michael Rischitelli and Touk Miller.

Rosa believes the midfield group at Carrara is in good stead with the likes of Gary Ablett, Dion Prestia, Jesse Lonergan, David Swallow and Jaeger O’Meara still to return over the coming weeks and was full of praise for Hall’s performance against the Crows.

“He (Hall) was really good. He’s had a really good pre-season,” Rosa said.

“I’ve been super impressed with him ever since I’ve come to the club, he’s been training really well and it’s been carrying into his games, which is great.

“We’ve got a few weapons going through there (the midfield) and obviously we’ve got a few guys that will be coming back so it’s great that we’ve got some depth.”

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With round one now less than two weeks away, the focus turns to Essendon on Easter Saturday at home.

Improving their disposal efficiency at training over the next 12 days will give the SUNS the best possible opportunity of claiming the all-important four premiership points in their season opener.

“We just need to sharpen up our skills, we were a little bit rusty tonight,” Rosa said.

“Just work really hard at the basics, working hard to master the fundamentals.

“I think we’ve got to continue to do that and hopefully we just keep improving every week.”