West Coast coach John Worsfold admits his side are showing signs of fatigue after a less-than-convincing 18-point AFL victory over Gold Coast at Patersons Stadium on Saturday.

The Eagles, whose sixth win from 10 games had them firmly entrenched inside the top eight, looked set to post a big victory after booting the opening six goals of the game to race out to a 37-0 lead inside 15 minutes.

But the fledgling Suns stuck to the task, with determined efforts from Gary Ablett (32 possessions, two goals), Michael Rischitelli (25 touches, one goal) and Campbell Brown helping close the gap to just 12 points entering the final quarter.

A towering Nic Naitanui pack mark and goal eventually sealed the 13.7 (85) to 10.7 (67) victory but Worsfold was far from impressed, conceding his side appeared tired after what had been a taxing start to the year.

"Maybe (it's) a by-product of the last five or six weeks. It's been pretty full on," Worsfold said.

"They certainly weren't running as well and didn't look as sharp after halftime.

"That's something that does happen, and you often see that and it's good we've come away with a win in the week we were a bit down like that."

Gold Coast would be sweating on the match report laid against gun midfielder David Swallow, who turned his body at the last second in a clumsy but by no means malicious head-high bump on Eagles tagger Scott Selwood.

In fact, Selwood had more to worry about after his off-the-ball punch to the guts of Ablett in the final two minutes of play was caught on camera.

Ablett slumped to the turf in pain after copping the rib tickler, but Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna did his best to downplay the incident in what was probably an attempt to deliver his good friend Worsfold a favour.

"I mean if he was doubled over, it was only because he rode himself into the ground," said McKenna, who also claimed he hadn't seen the incident.

"He's almost the dad of the boys if you know what I mean, so if he's doubled over, I dare say that's because he's run himself into the ground."

West Coast forward Jack Darling was also reported for his glancing, open-hand hit on Campbell Brown in a third-quarter marking contest.

McKenna conceded the opening 15 minutes of the match killed his team's chances.

"We held them to six goals for three-and-a-bit quarters (after that early onslaught)," McKenna said.

"So that's good against a side that, as we know three weeks ago, murdered the Western Bulldogs (by 123 points).

"So yeah that was a pleasing result (to fight back like we did), but let's not be happy with it."

West Coast ruckman Dean Cox was best afield with 28 hit-outs, 26 possessions and two goals, while Mark LeCras (28 possessions, two goals), Shannon Hurn (30 touches) and Josh Kennedy (four goals) were also influential.

Worsfold said star midfielder Daniel Kerr, who was a late withdrawal with a glute injury, was a strong chance to take on Port Adelaide next Saturday at AAMI Stadium.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP