Injuries to key players at an inopportune time hurt the Gold Coast SUNS chances of stringing back-to-back victories for the first time this season. With the game in the balance early in the third quarter, the SUNS stopped running and it wasn’t due to a lack of effort, rather an inability to run says Rodney Eade.

The veteran mentor revealed in his post mortem that star midfielders David Swallow and Michael Rischitelli struggled to impact the game with the pair both carrying injuries throughout the contest.

In his second game back from a posterior cruciate ligament injury, Swallow appeared impeded during the second half, struggling to cover the ground in his usual graceful manner. Whilst Rischitelli, the man who has been forced to wear the brunt of the work in the engine room this season, carried a thigh injury throughout the game.
 
As the red and yellow engine room wilted as the sun went down in Cairns, a classy fleet of Bulldogs took control of the contest with Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Mitch Wallis and Luke Dahlhaus putting the wheels in motion for a dramatic turnaround.
 
“We had two blokes in the midfield who were on one leg – that’s not an excuse but we just struggled for run, you could tell that. We were just hanging on,” Eade told reporters following the SUNS 22-point loss to the Western Bulldogs.
 
“We kicked the first three (goals) of the third quarter thought that was enough buffer but you could see in the end we just really couldn’t cover the ground.
 
“David Swallow hurt his knee again so hopefully he’s right next week, but he really battled. Michael Rischitelli was on one leg as well, so we didn’t have a lot to go through there.
 
“So in the end their weight of numbers and their quality being able to run really hurt us. We just really struggled to cover that.”

VIDEO: Watch Rodney Eade's full press conference following the Western Bulldogs game.

Last week’s return of one of the game’s all-time greats, Gary Ablett, and last year’s best and fairest winner, David Swallow, refuelled hope after a bleak campaign to date. But with so many players underdone and a generous handful carrying injury, a lack of match conditioning proved decisive in the end – particularly against a side who take the game on with their outside speed.
 
Regardless of personnel and circumstances on the night, a four-goal margin at the final break usually results in four premiership points. A golden opportunity slipped between Gold Coast’s mitts, an opportunity that Eade believes his side should have taken.
 
“It’s a game that we could have, should have won, extenuating circumstances, but even that the good sides are able to find a little bit (and) actually cover for each other a bit,” Eade said.
 
“A few of the younger players started to get really fatigued as well, but they’ve got to be able to dig deep and show some resilience.
 
“In the end we just got outrun, outrun by a side that can really run.”