GOLD Coast will be bolstered by the return of reigning best and fairest Claudia Whitfort on Saturday as it attempts to break its winless start to the season against Sydney. 

Whitfort has missed the Suns' past three games – losses to Hawthorn, Essendon and Brisbane – after being concussed in the week five defeat at the hands of Collingwood.

The 25-year-old will return to partner Charlie Rowbottom and Lucy Single in the midfield in her 50th career game.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Whitfort said it was bad timing to suffer the concussion during the condensed part of the fixture, but she was excited to help Gold Coast attempt to grab its first win.

"It's been a long three games watching," she said.

"It's just the nature of the game at the moment. We want to play games, so the condensed period is what we have to deal with … I just got a bit unlucky. 

"We're all good to go now. I'm not frustrated anymore."

Whitfort took one more game to recover than the standard 12-day protocol period, saying she still felt "foggy" last week and needed the extra time.

The Suns put in arguably their best performance of 2024 on Saturday, losing to premier Brisbane by 16 points after being within a goal early in the fourth quarter.

Whitfort said remaining winless with just three games remaining was weighing on the group of players.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, it couldn't not," she said.

"But I think the group has been doing a good job. We're all really united and it doesn't feel like a winless season at the moment.

"Vibes are still high, and we've got a lot of confidence going into each week."