By Peter Ryan
 

Usually, when a team suffers a 150-point defeat, doors slam, coaches and board members and players look immediately for answers. After all, the AFL has only seen 15 margins of 150 points or more in its history.

But the GC SUNS huge loss to Geelong was something completely different. It might just be remembered as a moment when careers began.

The trip to Geelong is, as Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna said, the toughest challenge a side can face.

Geelong had defeated Melbourne by 186 points the week before and was aiming for its 29th win in succession at Skilled Stadium.

The GC SUNS had 1247 games experience spread across its 22 compared to Geelong's 3346 games. The GC SUNS are in their first season in the competition. The Cats were on course to become the first team in the game's history to win 17 home and away games in a season for five successive seasons.

"[The] exposure for our young kids to that experience is fantastic," McKenna said.

The GC SUNS were very good early, matching the Cats goal for goal in the first 10 minutes. Then deputy vice captain Campbell Brown went down with a broken pelvis and the Cats kicked the next 15 goals.

"We certainly fell away and then the second quarter we probably lost our structure a little bit and started to play as individuals," McKenna said.

The truth, is everyone from the Prince of Full Backs - former Collingwood defender Jack Regan - to Full Back of the Century, ex-Carlton champ, Steve Silvagni, would have struggled to stop Geelong's onslaught.

The absence of Gary Ablett had diminished what had been a GC SUNS strength all season - winning centre clearances - and the Cats were unerringly accurate in front of goal, kicking 18.4 in the first half.

The GC SUNS could not get their hands on the ball and Geelong's midfield was allowed to run forward with very little pressure applied. This was, from the Suns' perspective, possibly the most disappointing aspect of the result.

The tackle count at half-time was virtually even (GC SUNS 30 tackles to the Cats' 31). The GC SUNS did not score for the quarter.

Despite this, vice-captain Nathan Bock was battling hard and his young teammates Maverick Weller and Seb Tape - who came on to replace Brown - lent good support.

Whichever way he cut it however, McKenna found the second quarter unacceptable. It was clear after the game he was not pleased with what he saw during that 30 minutes.

"[As] a developing team it is something in the head," he said.

"The body does not change, we don't lose our speed, we don't lose our ability to kick and use the footy. It's a mental thing and I said to the boys, '[you] have to go through that as a player to understand it'."

McKenna has been through such thrashings himself. After the game, he recalled his experience in round 17, 1989 as a player with the West Coast Eagles at Essendon's former home ground Windy Hill when the fledgling Eagles kicked just one goal (to Chris Lewis) in a 142-point loss. By the end of the next season the Eagles were in the finals, two years later a Grand Final and three years later won a premiership.

That Eagles outfit was a more mature experienced team than this GC SUNS side but McKenna's comparison was not unreasonable.

After giving his team a stern reminder that a more competitive effort was required in the second half, the GC SUNS responded. It is a feather in McKenna's cap that he was able to restructure the side to get back into the contest.

The GC SUNS began to function as a team and worked hard to make the right decision when they did not have possession. They had only two fewer possessions then the Cats for the quarter and were only three points in arrears on the scoreboard.

Leaders such as Michael Rischitelli (13 possessions for the third quarter) and Jared Brennan (10 possessions) began to win the ball in the centre and the team was much more competitive. Youngsters such as Trent McKenzie and Jeremy Taylor ran back into packs to spoil and the tackling pressure lifted.

Geelong outscored the GC SUNS by just three points for the quarter. It was enough evidence to rest McKenna's case.

"We are certainly a long way off when we try to compete as individuals and when we compete well as a team we are in the contest," he said.

He saw good signs from Taylor, Tape (who kept Steve Johnson goalless in the second half) and Weller, players prepared to stand up away from home when the pressure was on.

Unfortunately, the margin blew further out in the last quarter as the Cats kicked nine goals to none for the term but the GC SUNS were without Brown and had Brennan, Weller and Sam Iles battling under duress. Second gamer Taylor was also playing his last game for the season as he will have surgery for an adductor problem now.

The GC SUNS take on the Lions next week in the second Q-clash. It will be like a final for the GC SUNS.

"The boys should come away disappointed," McKenna said.

"I understand that so we need to work on how we improve next week."