Their opponents might be undermanned but Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna expects a fierce AFL match on Saturday night against Fremantle.
The Dockers head to Metricon Stadium without star midfielder Nathan Fyfe, who is serving the first game of a two-match suspension, while Stephen Hill (quad) is also not heading east.
With captain Matthew Pavlich (Achilles) and giant ruckman Aaron Sandilands (hamstring) also sidelined, some are sniffing another upset win for the Suns at their home ground.
The Dockers narrowly won last year’s fixture on the Gold Coast by seven points, but McKenna doesn’t believe Fremantle’s big omissions will make it any easier to narrow that gap this time around.
“The tags that are going to run out and the players that are going to run out, we know that there’s going to be a fierce contest,” McKenna told reporters.
“Contested ball and then tackle pressure, regardless of who is there, we know what’s coming.
“We’ve got to be able to withstand that heat and then put some pressure on them.”
McKenna has made two changes from the Suns team which easily accounted for Greater Western Sydney last weekend in Canberra, omitting Jack Hutchins and Steven May.
Coming back into the side is Harley Bennell (hamstring), who was best on ground in that narrow loss to the Dockers last season, while Tasmanian product Jesse Lonergan will make his AFL debut.
McKenna admits Bennell was deliberately kept out of the trip to play the Giants with an eye on the Dockers match after his three-goal, 37-disposal display in 2012.
“You probably wouldn’t do it for most but he’s got some credits in the bank – he’s got some good history,” McKenna said.
“He probably could have played last week but with travel, all those things, we left him out to make sure he was cherry-ripe to go this week.”
Lonergan, who was on course for a round-one debut before a wrist injury sidelined him for six weeks, is another deliberate choice to take on the Dockers.
McKenna believes the muscular 18-year-old can mix it with the Dockers and Lonergan doesn’t appear fazed about being thrown into a red-hot contest first time out.
“That’s my kind of game,” he said.
“Contested footy and that stuff, hopefully I can bring that to the table.”