Gold Coast Suns stay upbeat on return to Wollongong, but rue missed chances

The newly dubbed "South" Coast Suns fell to the Demons by 17 points in a Saturday night thriller. The result follows their six-goal defeat to the Cats in Geelong.

However, there were numerous positives to emerge for the Suns at Giants Stadium - namely the long-awaited debut of Izak Rankine.

The No.3 pick in the 2018 draft arrived with a big reputation. But while the likes of Matt Rowell, Ben King, Noah Anderson and Jack Lukosius have impressed early in their AFL journeys, Rankine waited on the outside due to a series of injury setbacks.

But boy, was it worth the wait. Rankine booted three goals, had 12 disposals and laid three tackles to nearly drag his side over the line against Melbourne.

"For our footy club, how exciting. You can see what we've been waiting for," Suns coach Stuart Dew told reporters after the game.

"He had such an impact which we knew he always would and we want to make sure our fans get really excited about what we can bring to the footy club, among other guys. But to step in and have six goals at shot is quite exciting for him. But on the back of a lot of hard work and sacrifice for him.

"I think his pressure and chase gives him those opportunities. He got caught holding the ball twice and we'll live with that because we want him to take the game on, make those decisions and back himself to take the game on. We were never going to strip him of his flair, the boys trust him in that. I think his intensity and to able to step up to the level [was great]. The last proper game he played for points was with the under-18s."

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Dew said a series of turnovers and missed opportunities proved costly for his side, which the Suns will learn from ahead of their next clash with the Swans.

"I think they had seven or eight goals from turnovers. At different times, we can take the easy ones, rather than biting off more than we can chew. Good teams make you pay," he said.

"They were really good on the inside but there were periods where we matched them. We had our opportunities, but the turnovers in the end, we didn't adjust to that and get a feel for the game. That's where the frustration kicks in.

"This was a winnable game and we will walk away really frustrated that, in parts, we handed it to them way too easily. [There's] lots to learn. At the moment, in this environment, not many teams can practise with their physicality. That's something we can take from this in that it's as as good rehearsal as we can get, but we don't get the four points. We've worked hard to get to the point where we think we can win and it's certainly in our control. That's the situation we want to be in, but we want to be able to close the game out.

"When we look at this game, we'll see how much we contributed to their scores. We will go back to how much we control the game and it's within that that we can improve."