For Jaeger O’Meara, Saturday night’s performance was all about winning back the respect of the competition.

“Tonight we wanted to bounce back and gain the respect of the competition, and I think we did that tonight which was really pleasing,” O’Meara said.

After producing what many believed to be a club-defining victory over Collingwood in round 16, Gold Coast dropped the ball in a final quarter fadeout against the Western Bulldogs, and was unprepared for the physical dominance that saw Brisbane reclaim state-wide bragging rights with a comprehensive QClash victory.

But Guy McKenna’s men charged bounced back in emphatic fashion on Saturday night, putting its finals hopes back on track by delivering a dominant 53-point victory over St Kilda at Metricon Stadium.

“We really wanted to come out at the first quarter and stamp our authority and we did that really well,” O’Meara said.

Stand-in captain Tom Lynch led the way with a four-goal haul, while O’Meara (22 disposals) and Dion Prestia (31 disposals) took the reins of Gold Coast’s midfield.

And while the Saints’ thirst for the contested ball made it harder for Gold Coast to get going, the boys sprang into action following the half-time break, setting up the win on the back of a six-goal third term.

The win puts the SUNS back in the top eight, but O’Meara said the challenge now was to back up Saturday’s performance with a strong return against Carlton next week.

“Yeah it’s going to be a big game… we’ll review (it) next week and hit the training track and train hard and will likely have an emphasis on the contested footy and tackling.

“That’s the basic fundamentals of footy and that’s where we start from and get our run so we’ll try to bring it to the table next week.”