Gold Coast's marathon AFL road trip is finally coming to an end and coach Stuart Dew says the club will relish leaving China for the comforts of home.
The Suns slumped to their fourth straight loss on Saturday, going down to Port Adelaide by 40 points in a wet-weather slog at Shanghai's Jiangwan Stadium.
With Jack Martin (illness) joining Tom Lynch (knee) and Sam Day (suspended) on the sidelines, the Suns were competitive for much of the game but ran out of legs and went goalless in the final term.
Dew has refused to make excuses for the Suns' fourth-quarter struggles this season but the unavailability of their home ground is certain to have played a part.
With Metricon Stadium off limits because of the Commonwealth Games, the Suns have played nominal "home" games in Perth, Brisbane and Shanghai.
That will finally change after their upcoming mid-year bye with seven of their remaining 13 games to be played at Metricon, starting with their clash against Geelong on June 2.
For Dew, it will be his first chance to coach the Suns at their home ground.
"We're really looking forward to the game against Geelong and looking forward to playing at home," he said.
"Hopefully over this time, our supporters watching can see we've been competitive. What we need to do is endure that for longer ... we put up two and a bit, three quarters today.
"We want to lay a foundation where we are hard to play against."
Dew's counterpart Ken Hinkley was full of praise for the Suns, saying he had no doubt their defence-first style would pay dividends eventually.
"They've got a young side, I think second-youngest team in the comp this weekend," Hinkley said.
"They're doing some really good stuff. Stuey, you can see what he's coaching ... a strong defensive, contested brand of football.
"They'll get there, it's just going to take a little bit of time."
Matt Rosa, who was a late replacement for Martin, injured his hamstring during the second quarter and will miss several weeks.
Nick Holman needed stitches after a late head clash but Dew said he had avoided a concussion.
