Throughout the 2015 season, the effort of the SUNS has been queried on multiple occasions. However, in the opening half against Hawthorn, this KPI could certainly not come into question.

Despite being severely undermanned, Gold Coast went into the half-time break trailing by just 14 points and pundits across the nation applauded the pressure brought by the SUNS to the Apple Isle.

Immediately after the match, senior coach Rodney Eade pulled his players into the briefing room and defender Steven May revealed the veteran coach was generally pleased with the effort displayed by his charges.

“He was pleased but obviously there’s a big window for improvement,” May told goldcoastfc.com.au in the rooms after the game.


“I thought the effort was there for probably about 80 per cent of the time but if you give Hawthorn a 5-10 minute block, they’ll pile on the goals.

“But it was a great lesson, playing against a team like Hawthorn you see their skills, the way they can move the ball and not switch off.”

 

The task for the SUNS, currently sitting in 17th position on the ladder with a 1-8 record, doesn’t get any easier with games against the two form teams of the competition, Sydney and Fremantle, looming.

Getting the four premiership points against these sides will be a difficult task, but success against the Swans and Dockers will be heavily measured on effort, a benchmark that has been used throughout the season.

“Sydney are looking very good, they beat the Hawks last week and they ran a good show last night (in a 60-point win over Carlton),” May said.

“They’ve got a lot of key dangerous forwards that we’re going to have to prepare for but like I said, I don’t think the message is going to be any different than going into this week.

“As we saw in the first half, we put in the effort and put our head over the footy, we’re there with Hawthorn but once we start to lapse, teams like Hawthorn, Sydney and Freo they really make you hurt.

“So it’s going to be a great learning curve the next three weeks but I think it’s mainly going to be judged on our effort and the way we respond.”