MELBOURNE forward Tom McDonald will fly to Perth on Monday but is a "day-by-day" proposition to play West Coast next week after suffering a back injury on Sunday.
McDonald was subbed out at three-quarter time of the 98-point flogging of Gold Coast, the only sour note on a day that saw Ben Brown and Luke Jackson find form with four goals apiece.
SUNS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats
Speaking after the victory, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said McDonald copped a hit to his back.
"He’ll be a day-by-day proposition," Goodwin said.
"We’re hopeful, but we’ll just have to see how he pulls up. He’s pretty sore and he was struggling there for a while.
"I’m pretty sure once it settles we’ll have a good indication where it sits."
Melbourne will board a plane bound for Perth on Monday, with Goodwin expecting his team to play the Eagles seven days later so they can serve the mandatory hotel quarantine period.
Aside from the concern over McDonald it was a good day for the third-placed Demons, kicking their highest score of the season and generating 38 scoring shots from 71 inside 50s.
Goodwin said the "DNA" of his team was strong, praising their defensive pressure that resulted in 29 tackles inside forward 50, along with their ability to connect with the forward line.
Brown's success was particularly pleasing.
"I thought Browny’s game has been good the last three or four weeks," Goodwin said.
"Since he has come back into the team … he’s competed really strongly, and last week he had six shots at goal, today he had similar.
"The combination between himself, Luke Jackson and Tommy McDonald worked really strongly today.
"Full credit to Browny, he’s put in a hell of a lot of work throughout the season, building his body and building his game back to a level that can play really strong, competitive AFL footy.
"I'm proud of the work he’s done and he got his rewards today."
Meanwhile, Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew said there was no sugar-coating his team's performance.
Dew conceded the Suns looked flat from the outset and described their workrate without the ball as "not up to the level".
He described the work at centre bounce as a massacre.
"The last six quarters have not been impressive, we're not going to hide from it," Dew said, following last week's second half hiding from Brisbane.
"We're not trying to talk up any positives.
"We got taught a football lesson.
"We've got to get the helmets on and fight this one out, there's much to play for.
"We're hurting, but it's not fatal."
It was only a month ago the Suns found themselves in a similar predicament, and Dew said with matches against Carlton, Essendon and Sydney to round out their season, they had to find something.
"We sat here after the Fremantle, Port and North games probably in a similar situation where everyone was questioning us and how we were going and we were able to fight our way out of it.
"Once again, we have to bunker down and fight our way out of it."
