Wollongong Wolves showing their class but only in glimpses

The side came up against a red-hot Rockdale and came unstuck due to a 20 minute lapse in concentration where the Suns took the game away from the team, with Jayden Casella and Alec Urosevski tearing up the Wolves defence in the first half.

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It's not the first time the Wolves have had the game taken away from them in a moment's notice. Against Marconi, the match was balanced with the deadlock still not broken going into half-time, but costly mistakes led to a second half horror show where the Stallions put four past Wollongong within 17 minutes.

The Wolves have the quality on paper. Players like their captain Lachlan Scott (who is currently on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury), Walter Scott, Josh Macdonald and Mirza Muratovic are regular starters and have all played professionally.

And at times they have shown their quality, most notably in their recent 1-0 win against Western Sydney and their dominant 3-0 triumph away to rivals Sutherland.

But consistency has been a major issue so far, both in terms of getting back-to-back results and also within games themselves.

The side improved massively in the second half against Rockdale, but the game was already done and dusted following the first 45 minutes after the Suns netted a trifecta in just under 20 minutes.

Wolves midfielder Senna Stevenson, who was shifted to left-back early on in the contest, said the side was proud of their second half showing, but overall the performance was not good enough for their standard.

"At this level it's really hard to come back [from three goals down]," Stevenson told the Mercury.

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"Credit to Rockdale, they are very clinical, but at half-time we had a real good look at ourselves and Nenad [Vekic, Wolves goalkeeper] was saying you've got to come out and give the fans something to watch. Hopefully next week against St George we can get a result."

The Wolves did come out in the second half and performed better. Striker Mirza Muratovic scrapped the ball home in the 64^th minute and also had a golden chance on the half-volley shortly after. Winger Alex Masciovecchio also created a chance of his own following a smart 'one-two' but saw his shot denied.

Should either of those chances have found the back of the net then it would have been game on.

Stevenson admitted they made the job much harder for themselves against a quality Suns outfit but on the flip side, said the attitude was a positive in the second stanza.

"It was very hard when you cop three goals and it could have been very easy to drop and concede a couple more but sometimes we've all just got to look at each other and all build each other up and just fight," he said.

Stevenson showed his versatility within the game, shifting from midfield to left-back within the Rockdale match, proving his quality in a couple of positions going forward as the season progresses.

"I played a bit of left-back last year under [former coach Luke] Wilkshire but I just try to do my best in every position I play."

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