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Midfielder Karmichael Hunt says Gold Coast need to arrest their second-half fadeouts if they are to break through for their first win of the AFL season against Port Adelaide on Saturday.
The young Suns’ shallow bank of fitness and experience has cost them dearly all season as they’ve regularly thrown away strong positions against better-credentialled sides.
They’ve led at halftime in all four games since round four and were within eight points in the two matches before that, but have lost each time.
They were three points ahead of the Western Bulldogs at halftime last week but lost by 38 and a late snooze the previous week against Greater Western Sydney turned a 13-point lead into a 27-point loss.
“Our starts are pretty good. It’s just coming out after the break and continuing that on,” Hunt said on Thursday.
“Against the Bulldogs, it was quite evident – even from the players’ point of view. We were just going through the motions in terms of trying to warm up for the second half and, before we know it, they’ve got the lead on us and we’re chasing bum again.
“The key for us is to be switched on in that second half. Obviously start well but come out in that second half and be ready to go right from that very first kick.”
The rugby league convert says, apart from the GWS loss, the Suns are ironing out their inconsistency but admits supporters would be going to games thinking “What are we going to see today?”
Personally, Hunt says he’s happy with his development into a legitimate midfielder in his second year of AFL.
“I’m happy with my progress and I’m always looking to get better – I always roll my sleeves up at training and turn up to fix what went wrong on the weekend,” he said.
“There’s always things I wish I could have done better.”
The Suns are yet to win a game at their home ground at Metricon Stadium since it opened in this round last year, but will find Port tough after the Power’s stirring win over North Melbourne last week.
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