Throughout an injury-decimated season, both inexperienced players and veterans have been forced to carry enormous workloads that always appeared destined to reach a tipping point. Sunday was that point.
 
With a further three injuries against Richmond at the MCG, and all to key players Tom Nicholls, Charlie Dixon and Jack Martin, the Tigers dispatched the SUNS in an emphatic manner to turn a three-goal half-time lead into an 83-point win by the final siren.
 
First-year rising star nominees Adam Saad and Touk Miller have shown signs of fatigue throughout the second half of the season, with Saad forced to miss three weeks with a groin injury and still suffering from the issue that requires an extended spell. Miller is another who despite producing a stunning debut season, is in need of a break.
 
Gold Coast SUNS coach Rodney Eade has been aware of this issue for a long time now, but due to a never-before-seen injury toll at Metricon Stadium, he is left with little option other than to continue to play those who require rest.
 
Second-year rebounding defender Kade Kolodjashnij has been a picture of consistency in 2015, and has been asked to play roles the football department wouldn’t have envisaged due to the injury crisis. Michael Rischitelli has been forced to carry the lion share of the load in the engine room, and the pair are just two of many Eade says are showing signs of fatigue. And they have for a while now.
 
“A few of the guys that have had big seasons… I think the load got a bit too much. Probably Kade’s been playing really well, Saady and I think Michael Rischitelli – those guys are starting to fatigue a little bit,” Eade said in his post-match press conference.
 
“Even with the injuries and fatigue a bit with some players, I was disappointed with some areas of the game in the last half and some players.”
 
In the aftermath of the SUNS' big loss to Richmond, Eade was quizzed on how he was going to chaperone his players to the finish line, given so many are showing signs of fatigue having carried a massive load all year.
 
The issue for Eade and Gold Coast is the type of personnel unavailable at the current time. An entire first-choice midfield is missing and more, and there is no one to replace them with.
 
“I don’t know if we’ve got enough players to be honest. We’ve got ten out for the rest of the year. Three on the rookie list that we can’t play because we haven’t upgraded them, so there’s not a lot (we can do),” Eade said.
 
“We’ve got quite a few tall players, but you can’t replace runners with tall players.
 
“We’ve got a couple of players that need operations that are playing as well, we need to play them because we just haven’t got players. It is what it is; we’ve got to deal with it. We’ve got three tough weeks ahead.”