Rocket launches into dim Suns

It didn’t take long for Rodney ‘Rocket’ Eade’s fuse to spark with Gold Coast midfielder Jarrod Harbrow saying the underwhelming Suns were given one almighty serve over the weekend.

Eade was fuming with an apparent lack of effort from his charges as they were left shellshocked by a Melbourne onslaught at the MCG last Saturday, losing to the Demons by 26 points.

In the wake of the game Eade said publicly he believed the Suns were “a couple of years away” from making finals in a blunt assessment of his new team’s current ability.

Harbrow said it was an even harsher message which was delivered to the players behind the closed doors of the dressing room.

“It was good,” said Harbrow when asked about the coach’s post-game volley.

“It was well-deserved.

“That’s just Rocket’s character but we shouldn’t have got ourselves in that position in the first place. Hopefully not too many of them anymore.

“Rocket’s made it pretty clear that if you don’t bring effort every week, results like that will happen.”

The Suns suffered a double blow on Saturday with young gun Jaeger O’Meara rupturing the patella tendon in his left knee during a reserves match in Brisbane.

The 2013 Rising Star, who hadn’t missed a game in his first two seasons of AFL , is now looking at possibly the entire season on the sidelines.

There’s question marks over the surgically repaired shoulder of captain Gary Ablett as well after he appeared to be in pain at times during the clash with the Demons.

Ablett was playing his first AFL match since dislocating his shoulder against Collingwood in July last year and it’s unclear whether the dual Brownlow Medallist will be fit to take on St Kilda in the Suns’ first home game on Saturday.

The game against the Saints will be Harbrow’s 150th in AFL.

The former Western Bulldog dismissed the suggestion the Suns had underestimated the Demons on the weekend, saying the result was just a poor effort and it must be better against the Saints.

“You do a pre-season to get ready for round one. Regardless of who you are playing you come out firing,” he said.

“We took our best team down there to play against the Demons and it certainly wasn’t the fact we were playing the Melbourne Demons, we just didn’t turn up.

“Effort, that’s the baseline. Everything comes from that. It doesn’t take talent or whatnot. “

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