GARY Ablett's eventual move into the forward line appears inevitable but coach Guy McKenna can rest easily, knowing Gold Coast's engine room will be in capable hands.
Ablett was held to 22 disposals against Port Adelaide on Saturday, the second week in a row his influence has restricted by the opposition.
The 30-year-old has flagged his intention to follow his father's lead and play as a full-time forward late in his career and, judging by the performances of Harley Bennell, Danny Stanley and Daniel Gorringe on Saturday, the Suns won't suffer too greatly.
"In time, he'll go forward and instead of starting and finishing a lot of our play, he'll end up finishing a lot of our play," McKenna said.
"The group is slowly catching up to him and it's reducing his ability to find more possessions.
"He can turn his back on the midfield and go forward knowing Dion Prestia, David Swallow, Danny Stanley ... Dan Gorringe in the ruck ... [can take over]."
McKenna said the Suns' narrow loss to a likely finalist proved they were close to the standard required to take part in September action.
In the club's third season, it has won seven games compared to the three it won last year.
"We're defending the ball better, we're kicking a bigger score, all those sorts of things are slowly turning," he said.
"Hopefully out of today, the boys understand how close they are ... to finish three shots off beating a finals side, I think it shows us how far we've come.
"We'll have Harley Bennell play 50 games next week ... so all of a sudden we go from having six boys having played over 50 games to seven, eight and nine and probably even 10 by the end of the season."
Bennell was superb against the Power with 28 disposals and three goals.
"Over the last couple of weeks when Gary has been a little down, [Bennell's] really picked up a bit of slack and got back to that form of last season," McKenna said.
The coach missed Hamish Hartlett's hit on Seb Tape that left the Gold Coast defender concussed but he said Tape's absence hurt the Suns in the last two- and-a-half quarters.
"He clearly is a good match up for a (Angus) Monfries and a (Chad) Wingard type and, just maybe, if he was playing in the last quarter [Wingard] doesn't bob up and take those two marks and kick two goals.
"Seb's a very important part of our back six and was a big loss."
McKenna said whispers of the Power's interest in ruckman Gorringe hadn't made their way to the Gold Coast, claiming the South Australian was a required player.
"We're very impressed with Dan Gorringe, we've invested time with him ... we're very happy with Dan's progression," he said.
"Western Australians get whispered back, all the Victorians get whispered back, that's common knowledge.
"He took another step today ... we're very keen for him to stay at the footy club."
