This game tasted like a bottle of soft drink left with the cap off overnight: after Richmond's upset of the Sydney Swans left the match a dead rubber, the fizz was gone. So was the physicality. Twelve goals in the first quarter summed it up: both sides seemed to have an eye on the long pre-season ahead.

It was open, fast, and highly entertaining in its own way, but it lacked gravitas. After half-time, the Suns' gaze shifted again, not to pre-season but their end-of-season trip, and gave up 11 goals in the third quarter. It was an ignominious end to a campaign that had promised so much until Gary Ablett wrecked his shoulder in round 16.

After the game, it was West Coast coach Adam Simpson who was most frustrated. "You get what you deserve," he said bluntly, and it's true: the Eagles didn't beat a single side to make the final eight, on their way to finishing ninth, a finish which becomes them more than even the Tigers.

"We've seen improvement, especially in the back half of the year I think we've won seven out of 11, but we're not satisfied, that's for sure," Simpson said. "The game was a Round 23 type of game, when you're not in contention, I would have thought. But you put yourself in that situation, of not being able to control your own destiny."

There were signs that the Eagles next year could be a much better unit. Simpson said continuity under his coaching was important, with the players learning a new game plan after a decade under John Worsfold. Scott Lycett, finally released from Dean Cox's almighty shadow, is already a formidable replacement.

A fit Mark LeCras makes a big difference. So too Nick Naitanui, who controlled the game as he should have, given the Suns were lacking a true ruckman. And then there's Josh Kennedy, a forward at the peak of his powers who kicked eight goals in a best afield performance, burnishing his potential captaincy credentials for 2015.

Simpson stopped short of anointing him. "We've rotated the captaincy with four players, with [Eric] Mackenzie, [Matt] Priddis, JK [Kennedy] and [Shannon] Hurn, and every one of them has performed really well, so in terms of the best type of leader is the guy who plays well [every week], they're all ticking that box at the moment.

"He got plenty of supply today. I reckon we kicked it to him 16 times and the next best was three, in our front half, so we might have gone a bit over the top with that. But he had 10 shots at goal. I've seen that before at another club," Simpson said wryly, referring to former Kangaroos teammate Wayne Carey.

The Suns will be better too, when they get Ablett back, of course. But his absence should not be an excuse for Gold Coast's performance in the last third of this season, much less the second half of this game. As good as their list is, there was a serious lack of resolve in the group after half time.

Yet coach Guy McKenna was still putting it down to his players' physical and mental maturity, rather than mindset. "Just that step back of not being able to compete for the full four quarters, I thought we'd moved past that," he said. "I think we were plus-16 for contested footy in the first half, and then it was minus 13 in [the third] quarter.

"I think that's our DNA. No matter your structures, if you can't win the contested footy it's hard to win halves and games of football."

The sole Sun who kept shining was Jack Martin, who will surely pick up the Rising Star nomination many expected he would have attracted much earlier, if not for a shoulder injury sustained in round one. He saved his best game for the season for last, kicking four goals and flying the flag long after other teammates had folded the tent.

Martin is still a stripling, but he can do it all: he can take a mark against bigger opponents, he's lightning quick, he exhibits supreme skills, and most of all he fights for the ball as though it were stolen from him. A few players who have been at the Suns for much longer should take note.