GOLD Coast’s injury crisis has deepened, with coach Rodney Eade revealing gun midfielder Dion Prestia will be sidelined longer than first expected.
Prestia missed the Suns' 48-point loss to the Bulldogs in Cairns on Saturday night and Eade was unsure how long the out-of-contract playmaker would be missing from his injury-ravaged side.
Presta was listed as a test on the club’s injury list in the days leading up to the Bulldogs clash.
Prestia joins fellow first-choice midfielders Gary Ablett, Jaeger O'Meara, David Swallow and Michael Rischitelli as players struck down by injury.
"(Dion's) going to Melbourne to see a surgeon on Monday (and) he might have a clean up of his knee," Eade said.
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"At this stage we don't know long (he'll be sidelined), but it should only be a short amount of time."
Eade played down fears O'Meara had suffered a setback in his recovery, with the star youngster pulling up tight in the calf and hamstrings in his third NEAFL game back from a serious knee injury.
Also out of contract at season's end, the 22-year-old sat out the second half of the game as a precaution after collecting 18 disposals and kicking a goal.
"He could have played the second half, but there's no reason to risk (him)." Eade said.
Eade said his young replacement midfield got "belted" by a rampaging Bulldogs onball division, but he was happy with how his inexperienced side played the game out.
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"We didn't stick to instructions and it was a really disappointing first half, but I thought we fought it out pretty well considering we didn't have much run in the side," Eade said.
"When you've got your best five midfielders out, and the game is always won and lost in the midfield, we were always going to struggle against a quality midfield (and) a top-four team.
"I think full credit to the whole team for the way they hung in there."
