West Coast Eagles forward Jack Darling suffers arm injury and Adam Simpson laments midfield smashing

West Coast have plunged back to the bottom of the ladder following a 70-point loss to Gold Coast, as more injuries struck the team and their crowd fell by more than 11,000 people.

Gold Coast produced the third largest win in club history with their 16.17 (113) to 6.7 (43) victory thanks to a dominant second term where the Eagles were blown away in the battle for contested footy.

Making matters worse, Jack Darling has suffered an arm injury and Jamaine Jones broke his nose.

Darling has had a horror season and has been under intense pressure. Coach Adam Simpson said the club had to wait to see how bad his injury is.

“We’ll get an x-ray and see how it is,” he said.

“He didn’t want to come off. I know he cops a lot and sometimes when you’re out of form that’s what it is. But he loves the club and he loves his teammates. He wants to help.

“We’ll get some younger players back in the next few weeks so we’ve got to keep exposing them and giving them opportunities.

“If we get to the end of the year and some of these kids have played 15-20 games, that’s a positive.”

West Coast’s crowd fell from 47,940 when they lost to Carlton by 108 points to 36,219 against the Suns. Premiership captain Chris Judd was among them and watched Gold Coast seize control during the second term.

The Suns won the clearances 14-3, the contested possessions 43-16, the inside-50 battle 17-4 and booted 8.5 to 1.2 for the term to take a 50-point lead into the long break.

“The second quarter we just got blown away in the midfield,” Simpson said.

“Some of the things we tried didn’t work. 13 shots, about 25 contested possessions against. It was a really disappointing second quarter which is a trend we can’t seem to stop.

“It’s hard to point the finger at our forwards because the ball wasn’t in there. And our backs, with the supply piece, we got overwhelmed with it. They’re a good midfield and they taught us a lesson in the second quarter.”

Reuben Ginbey continued his impressive debut season for the Eagles with 16 tackles and five clearances.

But the Suns had winners everywhere. Charlie Ballard took eight contested marks and had 12 intercept possessions while dominating in defence. At the other end they had Ben King kicking four goals as the focal point.

Matt Rowell led the way in the midfield with 29 disposals, 17 tackles, six clearances and one goal.

“He was unbelievable tonight,” Suns coach Stuart Dew said.

“He’s just fierce. He had 600m gained so he really used his speed and strength to get out of stoppage. Statistically it was a fantastic game but visually even better.

“What a competitor. He just thrives on AFL footy. I’ve never seen someone love their footy as much as Rowelly. There’s something pure about it that just makes you smile.”

The Eagles must now prepare for a bottom of the table clash against Hawthorn in Tasmania next week.