The petrol tank is running alarmingly low, but there’s not much Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade can do as the season draws towards an end. Despite appearing dead on their feet at different stages on Saturday night, the SUNS were able to grind out a gutsy two-point win over Essendon.
 
The flow on effect of the phenomenal injury toll is having a near unbearable impact, with a handful of players – both inexperienced and old – suffering from having to carry more than their fair share of the workload during an injury-littered season at Metricon Stadium.
 
Eade acknowledged this reality in his post-match press conference after his side’s narrow victory over Essendon. But despite securing premiership points for just the fifth time of his reign, the veteran mentor was far from pleased with Gold Coast’s performance on Saturday night.
 
“We started to struggle at certain stages, we looked heavy legged. I think there’s a few individuals that have really had big seasons and are starting to hold it together – struggling that way. But it is what it is,” Eade said.
 
“But from that angle, I thought all the stats indicated – even though we made a lot of mistakes – with the number of inside 50s we could have won by a few more goals.
 
“So it was a bit disappointing to actually get them to get close. It was a frustrating night.
 
“Effort overall was okay, (I) give it a pass. But certainly energy levels and fatigue levels. But I think some guys got tired in the mind before the got tired in the body.”
 
Rookie revelation Adam Saad burst onto the scene during the early stages of the season, captivating the entire football universe with his audacious dashes out of defence and fearless style of play.
 
But since the turn of the bye, the mature-aged rookie has been dogged by a groin injury that is a by-product of an increased workload due to the injury toll in Carrara. He has lost the usual zip and turn of speed that he quickly became renowned for.
 
The scenario hasn’t happened overnight and whilst it’s not taking away from what he did earlier in the year, it is removing the polish of it somewhat. Eade says the club will do what’s best for Saad over the last fortnight of the season, and that could well mean we have seen the rebounding defender for the last time in 2015.
 
“I don’t think it’s a matter now of if we can find anyone to replace him, it’s a matter of what’s best for him. And if he can look me in the eye and the doctor says he’s okay to go then we’ll keep playing him,” Eade said.
 
“But if it’s better to have a rest and shelve him, and not play the rest of the season then that will happen.
 
“I think first and foremost that we’ve got to get a medical prognosis on him that if he is struggling with it, if his groin’s incapacitating him, just don’t wheel him out and we’ll find someone else.
 
“We’ll play someone down back that hasn’t played there before, like we played Touk [Miller] there in the last fifteen minutes because we had to take Saady out of there.
 
“We probably would have subbed him off to be honest if Sam [Day] hadn’t been injured.”