1. West Coast's double-edged sword
It was a no-win situation for West Coast. This was a game between a team that is clearly finals-bound and another that is just hoping enough players will soon return from injury to help them avoid the wooden spoon. Such a match-up was always going to do little for West Coast’s hopes of shaking off the “flat-track bullies” tag that has blighted the club during the first half of 2016. Win big and the bullies claim sticks. Win small and other questions arise. Of major concern was the way in which Gold Coast was able to take the ball the length of the field, at times. The Bulldogs will be much better at it.

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2. Young Suns need to stand up
Since losing to North Melbourne by the comparatively small margin of 38 points back in round five, the Suns have lost their last five games by 120 points, 73 points, 91 points, 75 points and, now, 77 points. Yes, they have suffered a terrible injury toll that has destroyed a season that started with victories over Essendon, Fremantle and Carlton, but there’s no doubt coach Rodney Eade would still have been hoping for better. If Gold Coast is to lose another season to injury, it will be important for its younger players to stand up and stay in the contest for longer.

3. Steven May is a cracking full-back
It’s pretty tough being the full-back in a struggling side. It’s even tougher when you’ve just spent five weeks on the sidelines and you’re up against one of the Coleman Medal favourites. Given West Coast’s dominance, Josh Kennedy could well have challenged Scott Cummings’ record for most goals kicked in a match by an Eagles player. But he didn’t, and that was largely because of the efforts of May. At times, Kennedy had the entire 50m arc to himself, but May stuck to his task and kept Kennedy to just five goals. It may seem strange to say “just five goals”, but on the balance of play it’s entirely fair.

4. Lewis Jetta was better … just
Dropped to the WAFL after a poor start to the season, West Coast’s prized recruit performed reasonably well against Gold Coast, but certainly didn’t star. In reality, he was probably only recalled to the team because Andrew Gaff was ruled out with concussion suffered during the game against Port Adelaide. After all, Jetta managed just 13 possessions for East Perth in the WAFL last week. That should have signalled to Jetta that a big performance was needed against Gold Coast if he was to retain his spot for the game against the Western Bulldogs. He came up short with 17 and may well pay the price.

5. Tom Cole finally debuts
He’s been an emergency for almost every West Coast game this year, but Tom Cole finally made his AFL debut against the Suns. It wasn’t an auspicious start, by any means. 14 possessions, four marks and two tackles are hardly what he would have been dreaming about since he was named in the line-up on Thursday afternoon. Importantly, however, the running defender, who had 20 possessions in each of his last two outings in the WAFL, looked very comfortable playing on the dangerous Brandon Matera. Surprisingly, Cole was West Coast’s first debutant of 2016 who had not already played for another AFL club.