A LACK of poise and discipline cost Gold Coast any chance of troubling Fremantle on Saturday night according to coach Guy McKenna.

The Suns matched the visitors in nearly every statistical area, but rarely looked a chance of threatening during the 45-point loss.

They won the disposal count, clearances, contested possessions and were level in inside 50 entries.

But McKenna said the "boa constrictors of the AFL" were too much to handle for his young team.

"We spoke about pressure and we spoke about poise prior to the game, and ultimately out of that, if you do that well, you might get some respect because you might knock over a top eight side," McKenna said.

"Clearly their pressure was better than ours. Our poise was non-existent almost.

"I thought our boys cracked in … but clearly our execution going forward wasn't good enough."

Not only that, but the Suns gave away free kicks that led to three of Fremantle's first four goals.

The team's worst offender was captain Gary Ablett who gave away four free kicks for the night, most against his pesky but highly effective tagger, Ryan Crowley.

Early in the second quarter he was pinged for throwing Crowley to the ground, then gave away a downfield free just seconds later for a late bump.

Fremantle goaled in the ensuing chain of possession.


McKenna said Gold Coast had anticipated Fremantle's tactics and was disappointed his team got sucked in.

"They've got a couple of players that like to get under the opposition's skin, and that's fine, that's part of the game, but five free kicks (that cost goals), we're not at that level where we can absorb that. That's disappointing," he said.

McKenna said while his team could train to absorb the suffocating pressure enforced by Fremantle, the only way to truly learn was during matches.

"It's a different game against Fremantle and that's what they want to try and do. That's the ultimate challenge I think, it's being able to play your brand of football longer than the opposition," he said.

"When we got it, if you blinked, you missed our lack of poise because we turned it over or gave dopey free kicks away and they're able to play their game for longer."

McKenna said the ankle injury to emerging big man Charlie Dixon, who was subbed off in the third quarter, was only minor.

Michael Whiting covers Gold Coast news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_mikewhiting