THE EXTENT of young Gold Coast defender Wil Powell's horrific ankle injury isn't known yet, but coach Stuart Dew praised his side's ability to bounce back after witnessing the "nasty" incident.
The injury soured the Suns' 43-point win over Adelaide on Sunday, with Powell's knee and ankle buckling under his body midway through the third quarter, forcing a five-minute delay in play as he was taken from the field via a medi-cab.
Dew said post-game that the 22-year-old had been taken to hospital for scans.
"It's clearly nasty, an ankle and leg," Dew said.
"Generally, if the ankle does that … there could be a fracture in there as well.
"We're thinking of him, and we'll check on him as soon as we can."
Dew also confirmed Connor Budarick had suffered a hamstring injury, that would be scanned on Monday, while young forward Joel Jeffrey was "ok" after hobbling off late with a knee problem.
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He said it was fair to surmise the Suns took time during the match to emotionally deal with Powell's injury.
Their 36-point lead evaporated to just 13 midway through the last quarter before they poured on five goals late to run out easy winners.
"A couple of guys mentioned they saw it on the scoreboard," Dew said.
"For a little period there emotionally, there was a little bit of an effect and then they were able to settle.
"It's only human that when a bad one (injury) like that happens, there's a little period there where they're on the back foot."
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Dew praised his team's maturity to deal with the injuries, as well as an Adelaide team that gave them all they could handle around the contest.
"We knew they were going to throw everything at us and they did.
"At three quarter time we talked about winning the game, not defending the game. Pleasingly we took our opportunities when they presented."
It was a different story for Dew's counterpart Matthew Nicks, who was non-plussed by his team's inability to capitalise on their success at stoppages and heavy advantage in disposals.
Nicks said Adelaide was "hard to watch" at times.
"The final margin is really disappointing," Nicks said.
"I feel like a broken record sitting here again, it’s execution.
"Unfortunately, today it was at both ends. We had some horrific turnovers in our back half, we found ways not to score when it was a lay-up, so it’s hard to watch.
"I feel for our members and supporters.
"It’s a tough one at the moment. When you don’t execute, it’s hard to watch. We were in the fight and felt the momentum was with us."
Nicks said the 10.13 scoreline was not even the main problem.
"We find ways not to score," he said.
"It’s been our issue. We are really disappointed with today’s game … we lost that game of footy, we handed that game of footy to the opposition."
