Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade has made a thinly-veiled AFL selection threat after their Shanghai shocker.
A week after a great win over Geelong, the Suns were never in the hunt against Port Adelaide on Sunday.
They could only manage four goals in perfect conditions on the way to a 72-point drubbing.
Ruck-forward Peter Wright is one player who might be under the selection gun.
Eade agreed Wright struggled on Sunday and they would look at whether he needed a run in the reserves to regain form.
Asked if he was stuck for how to fix their inconsistency, Eade said: "I have my own thoughts.
"We've turned it around before, but we certainly have to get players who are consistent with their effort and consistent with their intensity.
"I know they're cliched words, but I think it encapsulates a lot and that's what we need to do."
The strong message from Gold Coast ahead of the China match was they needed to be more consistent.
They failed badly to deliver on that mission.
Eade said it was as disappointed as he has been and added he felt "pretty flat".
The Suns coaches' box was only a few metres away from the media section at Jiangwan Stadium and Eade's well-known temper was at full throttle as the game rapidly was taken away from them.
"I was calm in the second half," he said, but by then the contest was over.
Eade said he did not see the disaster coming, noting the team's attitude seemed good.
He added the loss of defender Rory Thompson 10 minutes before the opening bounce with hamstring tightness did not contribute to their poor start.
"We were just smashed in tight, (with) contested ball," he said.
Eade said their starting midfield combination managed just one contested possession among them in the first term.
The Suns also fumbled the ball and fell over far too much.
"Some of the fumbles were inexplicable - they were clear," he said.
"I thought there was something wrong with the football at one stage."
Eade noted that when Port were taking control, Gold Coast needed to battle and stop the rot.
"We didn't seem to have any get up and go to fight early," he said.
"That's not us - that's not the way we were charting up.
"Obviously we're still going to be a bit inconsistent, because of age, etc, but that was no excuse today."
Eade wants the Suns to be back in China next year, so they can produce a better performance.
"We were poor and we need to redeem ourselves next (match) and hopefully we get a chance to redeem ourselves next year," he said.
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