GOLD COAST will be forced to play at least one home game at the Gabba early next season with Metricon Stadium set to be unavailable for up to 10 weeks because of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The Games will be held on the Gold Coast from April 4-15 next year, when Metricon Stadium will serve as the main stadium.
Gold Coast CEO Andrew Travis told News Corp the club hoped it would only be fixtured to host three home games while Metricon Stadium was unavailable and was eyeing alternative venues to the Gabba.
"Anywhere between rounds eight to 10 we will be back in (at Metricon) so that’s three games we need to relocate. We wouldn't have Metricon without the securing of the Commonwealth Games," Travis said.
"We played three games at the Gabba in the first year in 2011 and you would expect China gives you one of those three and the Gabba is an option.
"North Queensland is somewhere we would like to explore. We are up in Cairns (for a Bulldogs home game) but it's a chance to take another game to the region up there."
The Suns 'host' Port Adelaide in the first home and away contest in China in round eight this year, a match-up Travis hopes will continue in 2018.
Metricon Stadium will be unavailable for about month after the Commonwealth Games so its playing surface can be returned to AFL condition.