Gary Ablett will take an active match-day role with Gold Coast's coaching staff, starting against St Kilda at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.

The SUNS captain had shoulder surgery three weeks ago after dislocating it against Collingwood, and was unable to attend Saturday night’s loss to the Lions in Brisbane as his shoulder was still in pain.

While his stint with the coaching staff was meant to start last weekend, instead, it will kick off this Saturday night when the GC SUNS host the Saints.

"He's going to take an active part in, almost, match committee," McKenna said.

"He's going to do mids and sit in the coaches box; give (midfield coach) Matty Primus an extra set of eyes.

"It's something he came to me about, so he wanted to do that and he just didn't feel right on the weekend.

"He'll be joining us in the box for the rest of the year, which I feel is really exciting for us."

The GC SUNS captain told SUNS TV said he was looking forward to getting a different perspective on the game from the coaching box.

“I just think it would be a great experience to sit up there and just watch the way the coaches go about things,” Ablett said.

“Obviously, as players on the football field, the messages get sent to the bench and then they get sent out to us, but you know it would be great to sit up there with Matty as midfield coach.

“I think that will help me with the rest of my football career, but also later in life if I ever look to go down that avenue of coaching."

Ablett has resumed training on a stationary bike and is expected to be fully fit for pre-season, starting in November.