Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade has condemned the SUNS' 120-point loss to Geelong, describing it as "more than a poor performance".

The disappointed coach watched on as the SUNS were outscored by 106 points after quarter-time and conceded 18 unanswered scores (10.8 (68)) in the second half.

"From about 10 minutes into the second quarter onwards it was just appalling, just not acceptable. It was embarrassing," Eade said.

Eade lamented the lack of effort, with the SUNS appearing to throw in the towel midway through the third quarter.

"The effort just dropped away and that's not acceptable," Eade said.

"You can always lose. We made a lot of mistakes but by the same token we were beaten at the contest, we were beaten at the centre bounces, the ball was stripped away from us, the lack of run defensively was poor."

The SUNS lost the clearances 43-23, had 139 fewer disposals than Geelong and conceded 25 marks inside their defensive 50.

Eade said the group would dig deep to find the answers for the lack of effort, but his initial thinking was that the group needed to show greater resilience when put under pressure.

"It's got to be the mental side of it. There's no doubt some blokes couldn't cope with the confidence being down and dropped their effort, which you've got control of," he said.

WATCH: BLK RAW - Tom Lynch

Eade forecast a tough review in the week ahead as he searched for answers.

"We've got to be able to look things in the eye and take responsibility and be able to rectify them. We can't just gloss over it," Eade said.

"We're going to have to make some changes and get some players in who are prepared to fight the fight."

Running defender Adam Saad should return from a hip injury while midfielder Michael Rischitelli is some chance to play against Melbourne after being ruled out with a shoulder injury.

However, Eade said defender Trent McKenzie would miss a couple of weeks at least with an ankle injury and they would have to wait to see how Sam Day, who battled manfully after copping a knee in the back, pulled up.

Jaeger O'Meara remains unlikely to play senior football until after the bye at least, with David Swallow in a similar position.

After three consecutive losses, the SUNS need to win at home against Melbourne to restore some credibility to their pre-season aspirations.

"A loss is a loss. You've got to bounce back next week and that's what we've got to do. We've got to move on from this," Eade said.