Gold Coast will take on the Western Bulldogs without Captains Tom Lynch and Steven May, who have both been ruled out with injuries.
The SUNS expect Lynch to be sidelined until its Round 11 return to Metricon Stadium, with the club revealing he had succumbed to a nagging knee injury.
General Manager – Football Operations, Jon Haines, told the Alpha Sport Injury Update that a conservative approach was being taken with the key forward’s rehabilitation.
“Unfortunately, he has experienced some aggravation in his right knee, so it’s the same PCL that he had some issues with last year,” Haines said.
“Given the history of that, we’ve decided to take a fairly conservative approach and Tom will take some time off to get some more strength in and around that knee area,
“At this stage, we would be looking for him to return after the bye.”
Despite the reoccurrence of the injury to Lynch, there are no long-term concerns about its impact and he will commence his rehab straight away.
“We certainly want to look after Tom’s long-term health and set him up for the back half of the year.
“It was a really collaborative decision that we had yesterday, and Tom was heavily involved in the process as well”
Meanwhile May, who had minor surgery last week after suffering fractured finger against the Brisbane Lions, will miss this weekend’s match after the finger became infected following the match against the Crows on Saturday evening.
“Steve experienced a dislocation against Brisbane and he went in for some small surgery to fix that up,
“Off the back of that there’s been a small infection in that particular area, so he’ll miss this week and we’ll assess him next week.”
The news did get better at Suns HQ with key forward Peter Wright to play his first game of the season in the NEAFL on Saturday, while Callum Ah Chee’s successful return continued as he completed his second game back in the NEAFL to put him in the frame for selection in the senior team.
“Cal’s had two games back in the NEAFL now and he’s putting his hand up for AFL selection this week which is really exciting,
“Pete’s undertaken a really strong rehab program with the calf issue that he experienced.
“He’ll play in the NEAFL this week and looking at about 60-70% of game time.”
Key defender Rory Thompson, who rolled his ankle in the early stages of the Adelaide clash, returned to play out the rest of the game and will be fine to play this week
