Gold Coast SUNS captain Gary Ablett admits to being surprised by West Coast's form this season and says his team will need four good quarters to challenge the Eagles on Saturday.
Ablett will play his 200th match at Patersons Stadium and said the GC SUNS had already learnt from last weekend's 66-point loss to his former team Geelong.
Gold Coast SUNS led by 11 points at half-time against the Cats, only to concede the match's last 11 goals in a major fade-out.
"West Coast have been in pretty good form, it's going to be another good challenge for the boys," Ablett said.
"They've actually surprised me a bit this year. I didn't think they would have won as many games as they have at this stage. I'm sure they'll come out fired up and we're looking forward to the challenge."
Despite losing to premier Collingwood last weekend, the Eagles have been one of the big improvers this season, rocketing into the top eight with a 5-4 record.
It is already more wins than they had for the entire 2010 season (four).
"We're going to approach this game like any other game and hopefully we can play consistent four-quarter footy," Ablett said.
"We've obviously learnt a lot this week, played a great first half, not a great second, so we'll get over there and hopefully improve."
After the loss to Geelong, coach Guy McKenna said the GC SUNS had to work on the mental side of their game.
It was the second match in succession they had held a handy lead only to be streamrolled, after previously leading Adelaide by four goals only to lose by 57 points.
"I don't think physically, the way the boys train, we can do any more there, so it becomes a mental thing. So as big as the boys have got physically, we need to start growing the brains a bit and hanging in there longer," McKenna said.
Ablett agreed.
"I think it's more mental," he said.
"Definitely a bit physical, they're still young guys and have only had seven or eight games under their belt.
"I think [it's] a lot more mental.
"Those young kids - I shouldn't say kids, I shouldn't blame the kids - but everyone in the side lost their concentration and the challenge for us as a team is to play four consistent quarters."
