GOLD Coast coach Stuart Dew says he should no longer need to convince his team they can match it with the competition's best following Saturday night's heartbreaking loss to Melbourne.
In a match the Suns lost by five points and could very easily could have won, defender Charlie Ballard has also been cleared of serious injury after being stretchered off in the final quarter with a neck injury.
SUNS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats
Dew said it was just "precautionary" with Ballard and that he was doing well after hearing a crack in his neck following an incident with young Dee Jacob van Rooyen.
Following the five-minute delay in play to assist the defender from the field, Gold Coast rallied from a 15-point deficit to fall agonisingly close to causing a big upset.
Missing some of their best players like Touk Miller, Ben Ainsworth, Lachie Weller and Nick Holman through injury, the Suns took the fight up to the premiership contenders, dominating for large passages around the clinches.
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They won clearances and contested possession comfortably, but were burned by the 2021 premiers on turnovers.
Dew was full of praise following the match.
"I don't want to be too buoyant about a loss, but gees there's a fair bit of heart and togetherness about this group, in adversity as well," Dew said.
"I talked to our players about belief and I don't think I need to convince them after tonight.
"I could feel something in the rooms."
Dew said ultimately he would not know what impact the result had until next Friday night's match against West Coast in Perth, or more likely until the end of the season.
"If we show that much effort, competitiveness and heart, that's all we can ask and you're going to win some of those games," he said.
"Tonight we didn't and we'll keep looking to get better, but not sure we could ask much more from our players in terms of effort.
"You better believe that's a genuine contender we played and pushed right to the line."
Dew lauded the performance of midfield ace Noah Anderson, who finished with 37 disposals, including 17 contested, along with 10 clearances and a goal in a phenomenal showing.
He said he was lucky to coach the 22-year-old.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin was relieved to grab the four premiership points and return south, saying the Suns were always a difficult opponent to beat on their home ground.
He said again it was their fourth quarter power that proved the difference – making it all eight matches they'd won the last term.
"It's just our last quarter. Our ability in last quarters has been really strong and that's been the case the whole year," Goodwin said.
"We've got enormous belief in our physical capacity.
"Our ability to dominate the entry in the last quarter, at the contest a bit better … the turnover game was strong for us in that quarter too.
"You build character off those type of wins.
"It's starting to be a hallmark of our team how we finish games off."
