Gold Coast has flown young ruckman Ned Moyle and veteran forward Sam Day to Darwin as it looks to freshen its squad for Thursday night's opening to Sir Doug Nicholls Round against Geelong.
Moyle and Day played in the SUNS' VFL team on Sunday, arriving in the Top End late on Monday and will be considered for selection.
With just a five-day break following Saturday night's win over North Melbourne, coach Damien Hardwick and his staff have pre-planned some turnover to the 23-man squad to compensate for the physically draining conditions.
Brayden Fiorini and David Swallow were rested from the Kangaroos contest and will come in to face the Cats.
Speaking prior to Tuesday's modified main session at TIO Stadium, Hardwick was reluctant to go into specifics about his team, but said it needed some fresh faces.
"We've got four or five guys fresh and available to play," Hardwick said.
"We'll see how some of those guys recover, but we've got some adequate players that can come in and play roles for us.
"A little bit of turnover … is important to get some freshness in there.
"We saw the taxing nature of the game towards the back end of last week … players were out on their feet.
"We've got to pick the best squad possible that can cover the ground as good as they can."
Co-captain Jarrod Witts was on even lighter duties than his teammates on Tuesday, standing to the side of the main group and doing some gentle skills work.
Hardwick has shown a want to rotate his list through the first nine rounds of the season, using 36 players to date, the second most in the competition behind injury-ravaged Richmond.
He has previously managed first-year player Ethan Read and said with Jed Walter and Jake Rogers playing seven and four games on the trot respectively, they would also get a rest in the near future.
"We'll monitor their flagging levels and see how they go and we'll make a call sometime today or next week," Hardwick said.
"They'll get a rest over the coming weeks."