Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna was able to sum up his side’s AFL performance against St Kilda on Sunday in one word – stinker.

McKenna used that word repeatedly to describe the Suns’ 17.14 (116) to 10.10 (70) loss at Etihad Stadium.

He said his club had made great strides this season, but their latest effort was a throwback to the easybeat days of their first two years in the league.

“That was probably our stinker for the year I reckon,” McKenna said.

“We haven’t had a game like that all season.

“I think that’s shown us where we’ve moved to.

“We’ve got one game to go, so it’s very important that we get up and finish off the year and play a lot better than we did this week.”

The Suns host Greater Western Sydney next Sunday in what will be Giants’ coach Kevin Sheedy’s farewell game.

Captain Gary Ablett was Gold Coast’s equal top disposal-winner, but despite his 28 touches, was kept by St Kilda’s Clinton Jones from having a major influence.

His teammates weren’t prepared to work hard enough to pick up the slack, the meagre team total of 27 tackles highlighting their unwillingness to impose themselves physically on the game.

But McKenna said pretty much every aspect of the match illustrated their inadequate effort.

“I can’t deny us having a stinker and St Kilda playing some really good football,” he said.

“They clearly outworked us and if you look at number of possessions, you look at number of tackles, you look at number of clearances, inside 50s, it goes on and on and on.

“They clearly outworked us, we just didn’t have an appetite to work.”

He said a mounting injury list late in the season, which had three more names – Andrew Boston (sternum), Greg Broughton (Achilles) and Daniel Gorringe (groin) – added on Sunday, appeared to have taken a toll.

“It was just a critical mass. Maybe we walked into a perfect storm given our personnel and this late stage of the season,” McKenna said.