GARY Ablett will play forward in his first hit-out of the season on Thursday night, but don't expect him to be stationed there for too long once the home and away season begins.

Ablett will play 75 per cent of game time in the JLT Community Series match against the Western Bulldogs primarily inside the forward 50.

And although Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade admits partnering Ablett with the talented forward set-up of Tom Lynch, Peter Wright and Jack Martin has its appeal, it is unlikely to be a full-time option.

Speaking ahead of the Suns' final pre-season hit-out, Eade said Ablett simply needed some match conditioning before mixing time between forward and midfield.

"I'm not too sure of the percentage, it could be 60-40, 70-30, but you'd think the way he's trained, and we know his talent, if he gets anywhere near his best, he's one of the best midfielders in the competition so it'd be silly to take him away from the midfield," Eade said.

"Having said that, because of the depth we've got, most of our midfielders can play other spots.

"Swallow, Hanley, Hall, Miller, Barlow, Lyons, can all play through the middle, can play forward, some can play back, some can play wing - with that flexibility, Gary will fit into that as well."

Eade warned to not expect too much from Ablett in his first hit-out since surgery on his left shoulder eight months ago.

The Suns coach said he was almost settled on his round one team, with just "a spot or two" still up for grabs.

He said David Swallow would play a full game after slowly progressing his match time through the pre-season, and Jarryd Lyons, playing his first game since moving north from Adelaide, would play the same amount as Ablett.

The Suns did not consider selecting Sean Lemmens (hamstring), Jesse Lonergan (quad), Brandon Matera (eye) or Trent McKenzie (calf).

All will be available to play a NEAFL practice match on March 18, along with veteran Jarrod Harbrow (ankle).

Matera had eye surgery last week to arrest a degenerative issue, but was back running on Tuesday.