WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade believes his side has plenty of work to do after getting beaten in the clearances by Gold Coast despite beating the emerging side by 71 points on Saturday at Etihad Stadium.

Eade said the clearance tally, which ended 36 to 25 in the Suns' favour, was "terrible and shocking", and left the Dogs with much to refine over the next 16 days before their next game.

"That was a real issue, especially early. The first quarter was diabolical. We started to even up a bit by halftime but in the end, we still lost," he said, after the win.

"Some of our better players in there were very average and we've spoken about that. We've done a lot of work on that so that was really disappointing. That was one downside to the game.

"We've got a bit of work to do. It was disappointing to be honest.

"The indicators are in a positive way but I just thought we were really scratchy again with our ball use, fumbly, and certainly our decision making [was not great] so we've got some work to do."

The Dogs have a long time to think about their deficiencies against Guy McKenna's young side with next week's bye meaning they don't play again until they meet Fremantle on April 25.

Eade said he wasn't sure if the extended rest was a good or bad thing for his side that lost its first game to Essendon but rebounded to beat the struggling Brisbane Lions last weekend.

"Like everything, it's going to be judged in hindsight, isn't it?" he said.

"I could pontificate here and say it's going to be great for us …I don't know.

"We've got a few players sore and we had a few knocks and guys came off at certain times but got through the game.

"We'll give them Monday and Tuesday off and probably put some work into them by the end of the week, and then give them next weekend off.

"It will be a fairly intense Friday and a fairly intense Monday week, so we need to get some work into some players."

Eade said Barry Hall, who kicked five goals and became the 20th player in the game's history to rack up 700 career majors, was one player who would benefit from a break after he pulled up sore.

He also said Ben Hudson rolled an ankle, Daniel Giansiracusa was affected by gastro and Callan Ward was "dazed" after a behind-the-play knock from Campbell Brown that "probably the cameras might catch."

While he criticised his side's execution, he denied the players' attitudes were slack given the Suns' 119-point drubbing by Carlton last weekend.

"We missed a lot of shots and it was just frustrating we couldn't nail it earlier," he said.

"Having said that, Gold Coast is going to get better every week once they play together more often."