GC SUNS captain Gary Ablett will have reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder in the next 24 hours after calling a halt to his season on Wednesday, ensuring he’s right for pre-season training.

Ablett will miss the rest of 2014 after deciding on the safer, long-term option after two days of careful deliberation.

The Gold Coast skipper dislocated his shoulder after a tackle from Collingwood's Brent Macaffer on Saturday night.

The surgery will be performed in Melbourne by orthopaedic surgeon Greg Hoy, the same man that helped Carlton skipper Chris Judd overcome a similar injury.

SUNS GM - Football Operations, Marcus Ashcroft, said the club supported Ablett’s decision, one that would see him available for the first day of pre-season training in November.

"There was an option to potentially give an arthroscope to Gary to hopefully play in the next four to five weeks." Ashcroft said.

"There was always going to be a risk if he played on with it that there'd be further damage to the joint and potentially some bone issues with the joint.

"We came back to the long-term view that we wanted to make sure Gary was 100 per cent right."

Ablett has been incredibly durable over his 13-season career.

Since his debut season, the dual Brownlow medallist missed just 18 games in the next 12 seasons, and just five in his four years with the SUNS.

With Gold Coast a strong chance to qualify for its first finals series, Ashcroft said the star’s decision was unselfish given what was at stake.

"He'd love to be part of the last third of the season to potentially play in our first finals team, so from Gary's point of view it's a fairly unselfish approach to make sure he looks after himself to ensure he is back to do a full pre-season and to be back with his teammates and to hopefully look forward to a brighter 2015.”