Gold Coast took a significant step in its pursuit towards a maiden finals berth when the team made easy work of an inexperienced St Kilda outfit in round nine at Etihad Stadium.
A dominant first-half performance saw the GC SUNS put the sword to the Saints in their initial encounter earlier this season, with the team building a 57-point lead at the long break.
Gary Ablett was at his prolific best, picking up a game-high 37 possessions and four goals in a display that would have likely seen the star captain awarded the maximum three Brownlow Medal votes on offer.
He kicked three of the team’s eight goals in the opening term, regularly leaving opponent Clint Young grapsing at thin air at the stoppages.
The Saints did find life in the third term, kicking six goals to three to reduce the margin to 32 points at one time.
But Gold Coast never let them get any closer, kicking the final three goals of the match to run out as comfortable victors.
Young star Jaeger O’Meara was outstanding through the midfield, notching 29 possessions alongside Dion Prestia and David Swallow who both had 28 touches each.
Goal-sneak Brandon Matera was lively inside the forward 50, kicking a bag of four to match the skipper’s haul.
Ruckman Zac Smith also made a promising return in his first game back from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament sustained in round eight last year.
SUNS coach Guy McKenna was rapt with his team’s performance, and its ability to build on their equally impressive start against North Melbourne a week prior.
"Certainly getting consistency in [our starts], that's important," McKenna said.
"As an interstate club, when you do play interstate, you want to get on top of the opposition early and quieten the crowd and do all those sort of things.
"So certainly the boys started the first quarter really well. I thought the second quarter was really good, (we were) poor in the third quarter and finished off half-OK in the last."
McKenna’s coaching counterpart, Alan Richardson took what little positives he could from his side’s lift in intensity and effort in the second-half.
"There's no doubt the guys' response after half-time was a positive," Richardson said.
"Having said that, it's disappointing when the game's up for grabs that we get beaten so badly, particularly in the contest.
"It was pleasing that … we haven't had great starts to the game but they've found a way to respond.”
