GOLD Coast coach Stuart Dew has blamed a lack of resilience among his players for the last-quarter collapse that resulted in Melbourne running away with a 69-point win at Gabba on Saturday.
Dew refused to blame the Suns' tough travel schedule for the loss, instead pointing to an energy-sapping first half where the Gold Coast were forced to chase hard after their own errors.
The Suns stayed close to Melbourne for much of the first three quarters despite the Demons' dominance of the inside 50 count, but the home side was blown away by an eight-goal final quarter.
DEES ROMP HOME: Full match coverage and stats
Dew said the Suns were looking forward to the challenge of coming up against the best contested-ball team in the competition, but fell flat when it counted.
"I think we lacked resilience tonight, no doubt, I'll give you that one," Dew said.
"But I think we had to work so hard in the first half to make up for our errors, and I think in the end that does bite you.
"We'd love to fight it out, and we really pushed our guys to try and do that, but it was too much in the end."
WATCH: Stuart Dew's full post-match media conference
Dew said it was similar to last week's loss to the Western Bulldogs, where the Suns were again challenged in the last quarter.
"Certainly there's a couple of clear points there that in the last quarter, teams have challenged us and we haven't had the answers," he said.
It was a bad day for the Suns, with their NEAFL team earlier in the afternoon losing to the Brisbane Lions by a whopping 92 points, going goalless for the match despite featuring 11 senior-listed players.
Dew said he knew the club's on-field weaknesses and was there for the challenge of turning it around.
"Bad day for the club, but I'm not surprised. That's why I'm here, for the challenge," he said.
"We're not going to shy away from it – the only way we get out of it is working hard and that starts with me and the rest of the players."
The Suns face a tough task against Port Adelaide in Shanghai next week before their bye in round 10.
Despite David Swallow spending much of the last quarter on the bench with his leg on ice, Dew said he expected the star midfielder to travel to China for the clash.
