AFTER copping "the most damning word you can hear in football" after the upset loss to Melbourne last Saturday, Gold Coast defender Rory Thompson says the Suns are desperate to atone.

While he agreed the post-match criticism - coming from everyone including his own coach Rodney Eade - was fair, it was questioning the Suns' effort that made Thompson wince.

"That's the most damning word you can hear in football, if someone questions your effort," Thompson said.

"You might question your kicking or your skill or your talent, but when it's your effort, it's not what you want to hear.

"We'll be looking to make up for that this week."

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Eade got the ball rolling directly after the 26-point loss against Melbourne when he said "maybe they (players) thought it was just going to happen".

And the statistics backed it up, with the Demons hammering Gold Coast in the areas of contested possessions (150-136) and tackling (66-53, despite having 46 more disposals).

Thompson said he never went into a game taking an opponent lightly, but the only chance to change that perception was against St Kilda at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.

"Rocket (Eade), the other coaches, (and) the fans expect a better performance than what we delivered on the weekend and hopefully this weekend we can deliver on that," he said.

A number of Suns had disrupted pre-seasons, but the 24-year-old key defender said that had nothing to do with the poor showing against Melbourne.

Aside from Thompson's turf toe injury that kept him to just the final NAB Challenge match, Steven May, Dion Prestia, Sam Day and captain Gary Ablett were among those that went into round one with minimal (or in Ablett's case zero) game-time.

"Those of us who hadn't done much of a pre-season or played much of the NAB Cup, we all got through a full game, with no cramp, no injuries, no worries, so I think it came down to our performance,” Thompson said.