By Michael Whiting
Gold Coast SUNS coach Guy McKenna hopes Saturday night's gripping seven-point loss against North Melbourne burns inside his players during next weekend's bye.
McKenna was heartened by the SUNS reversal in form after the "unacceptable" loss to St Kilda and said his players had now set a standard.
It's a standard he hopes the SUNS will maintain when they next run out, against West Coast at Patersons Stadium in round 14.
"It'll burn in their gut, and [they must] understand how close they were but how far away again we were," McKenna said.
"Hopefully that's the spur for them to work harder and be smarter with the footy in their hands.
"I think the boys now understand what is expected and we have two weeks off to bring out that effort again against West Coast and for the rest of the season and win a game of footy."
McKenna said after a week of soul searching, it was nice to see his team respond.
He was most pleased with the second half effort when Gold Coast was down on troops following injuries to defenders Seb Tape (knee) and Rory Thompson (ankle).
He said it had little to do with him reading the riot act after last week, and more to do with the playing group itself.
"I don't think it was much to do with me as much as harsh words go, I think it was more the boys sitting across from one another and talking some home truths," he said.
"It shows me there's some spark and spirit in the group and again today they responded to that.
"After last week a lot had been said and it was time for action. You couldn't deny their effort and I thought the way they fought out the second half ... it was really encouraging. "
The main criticism McKenna had of his men was not taking the game on when they had a chance.
Too often the SUNS were guilty of over-possessing and not pumping the ball into their forward 50 when they had a chance.
"The pleasing thing was we won some footy, we moved it forward and we came up seven points short," he said.
"We tidy up some areas now that we've got the effort there and compete like that you'll give yourselves a better chance of winning a game of footy."
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
