After a promising opening half against St Kilda, SUNS skipper David Swallow has lamented a drop-off in the third quarter which allowed the Saints to get back into the contest.

Gold Coast held a 31-point lead at one stage in the third, before the Saints wrestled the momentum back with a dominant nine-goal second half to snatch the win in Townsville.

“We had a good first half but it was just another one which was disappointing,” Swallow said post-match.

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“We had a lapse in the game where we let them back in and you can’t afford to give that to any team in the AFL.

“We’re disappointed with that one but we’ll regroup after the bye and go again.”

Swallow said the team needed to work together better in the second half to get the game back on its terms and share the load amongst the players.

“When we get weight of numbers and when we get most guys turn up for the contest and give it their all, we’re a good footy side and we can get results,” he said.

“But we can’t afford to rely on too few to get the result.”

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Despite the loss, the SUNS co-captain said he was confident the team was improving and building towards more success.

“We definitely feel like we’ve improved,” he said.

“I think the back half of the year we’re certainly going to be driving the high standards, we want to be winning those games.

“Certainly we can take the positives out of that and we do feel like we’ve improved a lot.”

The SUNS have a bye in Round 14 before taking on the Sydney Swans at the SCG in Round 15.