Most would have pencilled the Gold Coast in for a 2-0 start but an eight-goal St Kilda second-quarter blew the Suns out of the water in their first 2015 home game on Saturday.

Gold Coast's effort was heavily criticised after their shock first-round loss to Melbourne and the rhetoric in the lead-up to Saturday night's match was focused  rebounding.

While there might be some external shock at the Suns' results, Eade, who earlier in the week said his side was still years from finals, said he was prepared for the possibility of going back to go forward.

"I think, as the coach of a club, you've always got high expectations; there's no doubt about that," he said.

"But I also went into the job with (my) eyes open, so I knew there were quite a few things we needed to work on, and we'll continue to work on those.

"If that means as a win-loss ratio it goes backwards, well, it goes backwards. But we're not building to finish eighth, ninth or tenth, we're building to challenge up to the top three or four.

The Suns' poor efficiency was something that Eade lamented and it cost them, with seven of the eight second-quarter goals coming from turnovers.

"Our use of the ball was actually horrible," he said. "Then, when you try to attack and get it turned over again it's very hard to defend, you make some bad mistakes and then it probably dries up your offence as well, because you start to get a bit reticent.

"I was pleased with how we bounced back after that, but yeah, that second quarter, not through effort I don't think, it was just horrific the way we used the ball, and made some basic errors.

"(We) handballed too much, missed goals, missed opportunities."

For St Kilda, the result was another positive and a six-goal performance from Josh Bruce the highlight, with most of his goals coming from one-on-one contests.

The performance of the former GWS defender was one of the best of the night but coach Alan RIchardson wasn't surprised.

"He's a very, very impressive athlete," Richardson said.

"He's a real competitor, his preparation is outstanding, so there's no surprise that he's had that sort of performance.

"He's got some real power in his play, in terms of vertical leap, and he was able to hang onto them tonight and convert. He's really exciting."

Richardson said his side's intensity was the major difference for most of the match, despite a late charge from the Suns.

"I was delighted with our pressure," he said. "You look for perfection as a coach and we did talk about the fact that they got right on top in clearances late in the game but I thought for a big part of the game, we were really strong in terms of putting pressure on."

The Suns will be forced to make at least one change ahead of their road trip to Geelong, with Jarrod Harbrow subbed out with a dislocated shoulder at half-time.

Mitch Hallahan (hip knock) is also under an injury cloud, while David Swallow was pulled off in the dying minutes with a corked knee.

For the Saints, Ahmed Saad was subbed off after a head knock and will undergo concussion tests before being cleared to play against Collingwood on Friday night.