GOLD Coast coach Rodney Eade has torched his players despite their 10-goal win over Essendon, saying they relaxed and mucked around with the ball too much.

Eade even hinted there might be some changes ahead of next week's trip to Perth to play Fremantle, saying if players couldn't deliver on his standards, he'd happily call on reserves. 

He spared no one in his post-match press conference, describing skipper Gary Ablett's 34-touch, one-goal comeback as "rusty", and saying Aaron Hall (36 touches) had a lot to work on.

WATCH: Rodney Eade's full post-match press conference

"I thought we mucked around with the ball a bit," Eade said.

"We started to play 'Twenty20' footy instead of sticking to the basics.

"I think we got comfortable and that was disappointing.

"I thought we worked hard without the ball but we didn't need to do that if we used the ball correctly like we should have.

"If you said at the start of the game we'd win by 10 goals, you'd take it. There were just some elements of the game where I think we relaxed."

Gold Coast led by 44 points at half-time and were dominant in most statistical categories before things levelled out after the major break. 

Eade said with almost his entire squad to choose from – bar midfielders David Swallow, Jaeger O'Meara and late scratching Kade Kolodjashnij – he had set the bar higher this season.

Full match coverage and stats

"All you can judge it on is effort," he said.

"People will judge you on wins and say it's great, but now we've got (healthy) players playing, expectations internally are higher, as are the standards in the way we want to play.

"If they can't deliver that, we've got other players. Our seconds won by 80 or 90 points today, so we've got some depth and we'll play players on their form and effort."

Eade was full of praise for West Coast recruit Matt Rosa (32 disposals) and vice-captain Prestia (29) who didn't play a game during the pre-season with a knee injury.

He said Ablett and Hall both had plenty to improve on though.

"I thought he (Ablett) was rusty to be honest," Eade said.

"He missed at least two goals he usually kicks with his eyes shut. I thought at times he took the tackler on too much and took the wrong option, which is again being rusty. 

"He's obviously a great player, so I've got no doubt he'll get better.

And on Hall: "Like the team, I thought 75 per cent of the game he was good. There's some areas he needs to work on," he said.

"We've spoke to him about that already, so if he wants to play in the midfield, he's got to be able to play his role at times.

"He can swing a match and there's a lot of positives with him."

Eade said Kolodjashnij was taken to hospital on Friday night with abdominal pain and, despite not having scan results yet, expected him to play the Dockers.