Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick says his team will learn from and not shy away from Adelaide shellacking

Colourful language from Damien Hardwick has been regular in 2025 and the Suns coach didn’t hold back when describing Sunday’s horror show in Adelaide.

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick is adamant Sunday’s “kick in the nuts” in Adelaide won’t derail the Suns’ charge at a maiden finals berth despite an injury blow to star recruit Daniel Rioli.

The Suns went goalless in the first half, for the first time in club history, and lost by 61 points to finals rivals the Crows a week after arguably the best win in the club’s history against Collingwood.

A typically forthright Hardwick didn’t mince words in his post-match assessment.

“Every good side I’ve been a part of gets a kick in the nuts at some stage and today was our kick in the nuts,” Hardwick said.

“We didn’t kick very well, we didn’t take our chances, and they did.

Gold Coast couldn’t kick a goal in the first half. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

“You’ve got to take your chances when you play away, and we had some outstanding looks going across the arcs, and we just stuffed them up.

“Sometimes it’s the (crowd) noise and you think you’ve got less time than what you actually have, and we just didn’t execute that well enough.

“So, the things we’ll take into account is we’re still a side that is learning how to win those big games.

“This year we’ve been good at stages, but we’ve been disappointing too and tonight was probably one of those disappointing ones.”

While the scoreboard was damning at halftime, and still didn’t paint a pretty picture at the final siren, Hardwick didn’t feel it was an accurate reflection of the contest.

Gold Coast generated plenty of scoring opportunities, with one more inside 50 than Adelaide at halftime and six more entries by the end of the match.

“They exerted more influence on the scoreboard than we did, it’s pretty simple, I thought the periods that we had sustained dominance, we just failed to score,” Hardwick said.

“And a little bit of that was on us, with some execution going across the arcs, and some of it was the Crows’ good defensive play.

“But the game should have been closer than what it actually was … the scoreboard probably reflected a different game, I thought, from a contest point of view than it should have been.”

Damien Hardwick has work to do. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

As a result of his post-siren altercation with Riley Thilthorpe after the Suns’ controversial win earlier in the year, Mac Andrew was public enemy No.1 for Crows fans who booed him loudly throughout.

Thilthorpe kicked two goals and Andrew gave away another to Luke Pedlar for an undisciplined act, but Hardwick was fine with the focus the key defender brought on himself.

“He’s probably one of our best players tonight, so I’m prepared to back him in with all that sort of stuff,” Hardwick said.

“I understand that’s how it is, he’s one of the best key position players in the land and him and Riley are going to have many, many battles over the next 10 to 12 years.

“And we all get the pleasure of watching it, which is great.

“It doesn’t worry him. You know what the very best players do? They get a rise off it. So, keep yelling at him and all that sort of stuff.

“He’ll just get better and better.”

Rioli was barely able to put any weight through his left leg when he was helped from the field by trainers shortly before halftime and will stay in Adelaide on Monday to undergo scans on a foot/calf issue.

Originally published as Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick says his team will learn from and not shy away from Adelaide shellacking