Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew has praised the SUNS’ defence for withstanding a Power onslaught during Saturday’s 40-point loss to Port Adelaide.

The Power finished the game with 73 inside 50s while the SUNS registered just 48.

But Gold Coast’s defence stood up, repelling the Power’s attack for most of the game, until the dam wall broke in the final term.

Defender Steven May had the tough task on Port star Robbie Gray, fresh from a six-goal performance in last week’s Showdown win over the Crows.

But the SUNS skipper was outstanding, shutting down Gray completely and keeping him goalless. 

“I think the defence held up really well,” Dew told reporters after the game.

“They’ve been under a fair bit of pressure this year. There was a little bit of inefficiency from Port Adelaide but I felt they fought it out.

“May, in particular, when you look at Robbie Gray kicking six last week, you lose sleep over it and then Maysey was able to get up and really perform well.

"As our captain I thought he played really well tonight he had one howler at a stoppage but you can forgive him for that because he really dug in.”

With Sam Day suspended for the game, star forward Tom Lynch injured and Peter Wright out of form, Dew admitted he contemplated playing May forward.

But in the end the coach decided his captain would be much better served in his traditional position down back.

“Monday and Tuesday May’s name was at centre half-forward when Sam Day got suspended,” Dew said.

“But then the more you watched Gray’s goals, I thought, gee, he needs our best defender. We sacrificed that and I think the conditions lent itself to leg speed in the front half and it didn’t quite work out.”

Last year, in the inaugural China game, the SUNS were embarrassed by their performance with a 72-point loss to Port.

Their effort this year in Shanghai though, was markedly improved with Gold Coast putting in one of its most competitive games for the season.

“We were certainly proud of their effort, particularly the first half,” Dew said.

“The third quarter got away from us a little bit and we just couldn’t endure the last quarter. Losing Matt Rosa that cost us a little bit I think it’s four or five guys under 10 games’ experience.

“We were very inexperienced up front but we did feel like when we did get it down there we were dangerous. But the dam wall broke in the last quarter with 21 inside 50s. In terms of effort, I feel like we say it every week but we can’t question the effort, but we’ve got so much to work on because we’re our own worst enemy.

“We need to work on our ball security and our connection but we have had a different forward line over the last three to four weeks which has thrown us around a little bit with injury and suspension.”

Star Jack Martin was a late withdrawal before the game with illness, and was replaced by veteran Matt Rosa.

Unfortunately the former Eagle injured his hamstring late in the second term, and didn’t take any further part in the game.

Dew said after the match Rosa was expected to miss at least a couple of weeks