GOLD Coast has lost credibility in the competition following its horror loss to Brisbane on Saturday night, says coach Stuart Dew.
The Suns were humiliated by 73 points, at one stage conceding a run of 14 consecutive goals as they failed to give a yelp on their home ground against their Queensland rivals.
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Brisbane's night was not all smiles though, with coach Chris Fagan confirming injuries to defenders Darcy Gardiner (shoulder) and Ryan Lester (hamstring) would keep them out of Friday night's blockbuster against Richmond.
It was a horror show for Gold Coast, with Dew conceding it had plenty of thinking to do ahead of an away trip to Geelong next Saturday.
"We let ourselves down," Dew said.
"Definitely would have lost some trust within the competition, our supporters.
"We have to take it personal, we failed to compete.
"We would have lost trust, no doubt.
"Some of the gains that were there will now get questioned, so we have to front up and take it on the chin and look to this week.
"There’s two choices, we can fall away between now and the bye and reset, or we can get back on track immediately."
The Suns trailed by six points at quarter-time, 29 at the half and then completely fell away when conceding eight unanswered goals in an "unacceptable" third.
They repeatedly gave up uncontested marks inside their own defensive 50 – often to long entries that should have presented time to compete – and were beaten around the contest.
Eleven players registered just one tackle or less.
Unlike the round five hiding from the Western Bulldogs, there was no silver lining this time.
To rub salt into Gold Coast's wound, Jarryd Lyons – the man it delisted at the end of 2018 – was named the Marcus Ashcroft medallist as the best player on ground.
"Leaders in the club, of which I'm one, we need to lead the way out of it," Dew said.
"We can't feel sorry for ourselves.
"Look at the Eagles the other week. Adam Simpson sat there and said "we were soft and embarrassing" and they responded.
"There's a lesson there from a really strong football club and that needs to drive us this week.
"Regardless of ladder, if you take a game easy or don't step up, this is what happens.
"Wherever we were next week, we're looking forward to getting stuck into the week."
Fagan was pleased with his team's effort, although he had no update on the injuries to Lester and Gardiner.
"I don't know the extent of either yet, but I wouldn't think they'd be available next week," he said.
"’Froggy’ (Lester), it was unfortunate for him in his 150th that he didn't play for very long, but that performance tonight was inspired by him because he's a very popular teammate.
"It was a big motivation for us tonight and it's a little bit unfortunate that he wasn't able to participate a little bit more in it."
"Darcy we'll just have to wait and see. Didn't look good did it?"
