Greater Western Sydney has heaped more misery on the travelling Gold Coast and given its own top-four hopes a huge boost with a clinical 39-point triumph at Engie Stadium.
The Giants made the most of their opportunities in blustery conditions, clinching a comfortable 14.5 (89) to 6.14 (50) victory while the SUNS paid the price for misfiring near goal on Saturday afternoon.
While too many SUNS found goals hard to come by, even from gilt-edged chances, the Giants' in-form spearhead Jesse Hogan could hardly miss.
Hogan finished with four majors along with six marks, and had as much impact in sharing the goals around with seven score involvements.
The SUNS looked dangerous early, with six inside 50s before the Giants had even moved the ball into their forward half.
The Giants went coast-to-coast on their first attack, finishing with a goal to Brent Daniels in his 100th match.
The zippy forward went on to celebrate his milestone match in style with two goals as the standout of the Giants' mosquito fleet, with Darcy Jones, Harvey Thomas and Toby McMullin also hitting the scoreboard and adding a spark.
Lachie Whitfield was critical to the Giants opening up the SUNS when moving the ball out of defence, with the smooth-moving half-back finishing with a team-high 40 disposals.
Harry Perryman (26), Connor Idun (27) and key defender Jack Buckley (23) also found plenty of the ball in the back half, while Tom Green (34) dominated around the stoppages.
The SUNS' horror hoodoo on the road has now stretched to 435 days, including all nine away matches this season, while winning their nine games as hosts.
It might have been much different this time but for wayward kicking for goal, as the SUNS finished ahead 66-47 for inside 50s but could only manage six majors.
Ben King was the main culprit near goal, the SUNS' spearhead failing to notch a major from seven attempts including six set shots, as he went on to finish with 0.3.
The most damaging of King's misses came after the three-quarter time siren with the SUNS trying to stay in the contest, when the 24-year-old sliced a set shot from 30m out and barely on a slight angle through for a behind.
Sam Flanders led the way in the SUNS' midfield as he gathered 43 disposals with nine clearances, while former skipper David Swallow turned back the clock with 28 touches.
Lachie Weller made a stirring return from a second torn ACL with 16 disposals and a goal while spending most of his time playing at half-forward.
Jack Lukosius added some polish to the SUNS' forward half with two goals, but with too many teammates failing to deal with the conditions, a first finals campaign fell further out of reach.
Luckless Lachie shines on welcome SUNS return
It had been 378 days since Lachie Weller went down with his second torn ACL but the SUNS' running machine showed few signs of his time out of the game as he made a welcome return. Weller spent much of the day playing off half-forward, after making his mark in defence in recent years, and booted a team-lifting major in the second term just as the SUNS found goals hard to come by. The 28-year-old was swamped by teammates after hitting the scoreboard, and added polish in the front half throughout, but can expect to soon return to a SUNS' defence crying out for more experience.
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 5.0 8.1 10.3 14.5 (89)
GOLD COAST 2.4 4.9 4.11 6.14 (50)
GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Hogan 4, Daniels 2, Greene 2, Jones, Thomas, Perryman, Riccardi, McMullin, Cadman
Gold Coast: Lukosius 2, Long, Weller, Sexton, Humphrey
BEST
Greater Western Sydney: Green, Hogan, Whitfield, Perryman, Daniels, Buckley, Bedford
Gold Coast: Flanders, Swallow, Powell, Rowell, Holman
INJURIES
Greater Western Sydney: Cumming (hamstring)
Gold Coast: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Greater Western Sydney: Xavier O'Halloran (replaced Isaac Cumming in the second quarter)
Gold Coast: Will Graham (replaced Joel Jeffrey in the third quarter)
Crowd: 8,013 at Engie Stadium
