Gold Coast SUNS coach Guy McKenna says his inexperienced side will improve quickly as it plays more football together, but admits the prospect of taking on the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium this weekend is "frightening".
The GC SUNS were beaten by a 119-point margin by Carlton in their first AFL match on Saturday night.
Speaking on Monday, McKenna pointed to a moment between No.1 draft pick David Swallow and captain Gary Ablett as an example of the challenge his team faced to perform well first up.
"Swallow got the ball, looked at Gary Ablett and he's thinking, 'is he going to break left? Is he going to go right?' Then he held onto the ball, which allowed the Carlton defenders to swarm Gaz," McKenna said.
"First time they'd played together. It just put that hesitancy into their play.
"Having that experience of playing alongside each other, there's no magical pill for that. We have to go through that."
McKenna revealed that senior players Ablett, Jared Brennan, Nathan Bock and Campbell Brown may not have been selected under normal circumstances given their injury-interrupted pre-seasons.
"If they were in a different side … but the situation is we've got to play them," he said.
"As low as their fitness bases are, they're better off getting in there and working with the young kids at senior level, rather than going through the reserves."
With no injuries out of the Blues’ clash, McKenna said there would be few changes to the line-up to face the Bulldogs, which would help the team gel.
He admitted the club's second outing would be just as difficult as the first, but expects his young players to embrace it.
"Frightening is the word," McKenna said. "We've got to brace ourselves.
"They're a really hard side at the footy. They've got some really clever players in close and we've got to match them as best we can.
"But as I say to the boys, ships are built for rough seas. They're not built for sitting in harbours.
"They want to get out there against a top four side of the last few years. It's a fantastic opportunity."
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
