GOLD Coast midfielder Hugh Greenwood says the club deserves whatever criticism comes its way following Saturday's loss to Fremantle.

Three days after suffering the 27-point defeat at the hands of the Dockers in Perth, Greenwood said the Suns were still at a loss to explain their poor showing.

They kicked just one goal in the first half and, with a 4-8 record, appear to be treading water again in 2021.

Greenwood, who is individually having a fine season, said it was the nature of the defeat that really stung.

"We'd come off a really good win (against Hawthorn), come off a bye, there were no excuses," he told AFL.com.au.

"We should have come out fresh, firing and ready to go.

"They had guys they'd lost and hadn't had their bye yet.

GUN SUN TO GET A RUN Top 10 pick to play at last

"There was a formula there … we believe we should have won. That's why it was so disappointing.

"Not just because we lost, but how we lost. We didn't play at our best.

"We were really, really poor. We have to cop that."

One positive for the Suns was the return of former No.1 draft pick Matt Rowell, who played his first game in three months after overcoming a knee injury.

Rowell gathered 14 disposals, and Greenwood said it was unfair to expect too much too soon from the inside midfielder.

"He's a kid. He's played five full games. It's his first game in 12 months and he'd only played four games before that," Greenwood said.

"We expect a lot of him, he expects a lot of himself, but we're not expecting him to blow us out of the water like he did when he first got here.

"We know he'll eventually get back to that point, but we're not asking him to do that right away.

"It was probably a relief for him to get through that game on the weekend.

"We know how hard he works, and the results will take care of themselves eventually, and a player of his calibre is going to make our group better and our midfield group better."