Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade says Gary Ablett is a victim of his own high standards and has backed another struggling Suns star, Tom Lynch, following the 102-point away flogging by GWS Giants .
Ablett finished with 16 touches for the second straight game, but only tallied one handball in the first quarter. Apart from a brief period in the second quarter he had little impact on Saturday's game at Spotless Stadium.
Key forward Lynch was held goalless for the first time in 33 games stretching back to the 2015 season and appeared frustrated by the tactics of Giants' defender Phil Davis..
Eade insisted the increasingly injury-prone Ablett was fit.
"He didn't have a great game, but he wasn't an orphan in that situation , there was a few other players as well," Eade said.
"I suppose Gary is a victim of his own elite standard and he's judged by that and whenever that drops away obviously he's going to be critiqued.
"He wasn't the only one. Collectively we've got to get around him and around everyone, especially the younger players and lift them up and get their confidence back."
Eade felt umpires perhaps needed to look more at what opposing defenders were doing to Lynch off the ball, but backed his spearhead to bounce back.
"It wasn't a good day at the office for Tom, but players have those," Eade said.
"One thing I do now about Tom is his persistence and his perseverance, he showed that last week.
"He didn't have a good night either, but he stuck at it and ended up with three (goals), so Tom will work his way through that, I'm very confident."
Eade said there was no magic formula to get his team back on track after their 0-2 start.
"You can't go down the street and buy some confidence from the shop," he said.
"It's about doing some hard work and getting the basics right and then the wheel will turn and I've seen it many a time back to even when I was playing."
Eade was pleased with the efforts of midfielder David Swallow, who tallied 21 touches in his first game since 2015.
"I don't think he dominated, but he certainly give us a bit of contest consistently and we'll certainly be better for him being back in the team," Eade said.
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