As the GIANTS get set take on the Suns at Spotless Stadium on Saturday afternoon, we’ve been keeping a close eye on all the news coming from the north this week.
The Suns have been struck hard on the injury front with wingmen Alex Sexton and Matt Rosa to miss multiple weeks.
Sexton broke his forearm in an incident early in the second quarter of the Suns’ game against the Demons last weekend and underwent surgery on Sunday.
“Secko had his operation on Sunday morning after the game Saturday. He broke his arm,” GM – Football Operations, Marcus Ashcroft told the Suns’ website.
“Surgery went really well, it was a clean break so all reports initially are he’ll miss the next 3-4 weeks.”
Meanwhile, Rosa strained his left hamstring and is expected to be on the sidelines for a similar timeframe.
“Matt also didn’t play the second half, twinged his hamstring,” Ashcroft said.
“It’s a similar injury he’s had before so nothing that’s new to him. Again, similar timeframe to Alex, he’ll miss the next 3-4 weeks.”
Fellow midfielder Touk Miller aggravated an ankle injury against Melbourne, but he played out the game and is in line to take on the GIANTS provided he can pass a fitness test at Thursday’s main training session.
“He battled manfully for the second half as Rocket intimated after the game,” Ashcroft said.
“That’s a good sign for this week. He’s out training there now and we’d expect him, if he gets through the test on Thursday, to play on the weekend.”
The Suns have lost four in a row after starting their season with three straight wins. They were thumped by Melbourne at home by 73-points on Saturday to slip to 3-4 for the year.
"I’ve got confidence in the group, we just need some troops back," coach Rodney Eade said after the game.
"Obviously our support underneath needs a lot of work and needs some more time to develop, but it’s going to be a pretty even season, so I wouldn’t throw the baby out with a bathwater.
"I think people can get emotional on a couple of performances, and those couple of performances might be repeated in the next couple of weeks, you never know, with who we’re playing and the players we’re going to have.
"We’ve just got to come back to that fighting mentality and hang in there until the tide turns, and it will turn."
Eade told SEN earlier this week his side needs to develop some resilience in the face of adversity with a tough stretch of football coming up.
“I suppose the start of this year was encouraging. It probably shows underneath we haven’t got a lot of depth,” Eade told Melbourne radio station SEN on Monday morning.
“Most teams in today’s footy aren’t going to cope with a lot of injuries. We’ve got to develop that depth and persevere with them until some players come back.
“But having said that as well, we’ve got to develop some resilience. The lack of confidence probably in the Geelong game after half time was alarming.
“We made a lot of mistakes on Saturday night too which was probably confidence with a few of the younger players so we’ve got to develop that resilience and a lot of that consistent effort even if results don’t go the right way so that’s the next step we’ve got to dig deep into.”
In team news, the Suns will have to make at least two forced changes through injury. Eade hinted in his post-match press conference that tall defender Jack Leslie could come in after dominating in the Suns reserves’ NEAFL loss to Sydney.
Leslie would bolster the Suns defence in need of manpower with Keegan Brooksby another answer to the callout for troops down back, according to the Suns’ website.
Ryan Davis was omitted from last week’s senior side and responded with 38 disposals and nine marks in the twos, while youngster Callum Ah Chee and nominated rookie Danny Stanley were also very good against the Swans.
Luke Russell, Seb Tape, Brandon Matera, Tom Nicholls and Matt Shaw are also all possibilities to face the GIANTS.
Gold Coast have never travelled to Spotless Stadium with all other clashes between these two sides played at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast or Manuka Oval in Canberra.
The fifth-placed GIANTS take on the 11th-places Suns at Spotless Stadium on Saturday afternoon at 4.35pm.