IT'S hard to not feel frustrated, but Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade said his men had no choice but to move forward and look for silver lining amid their injury crisis.

On the back of news that Gary Ablett (shoulder) and Michael Rischitelli (knee) would miss the remainder of the season, came confirmation that Dion Prestia will be unavailable for Saturday's match against the Western Bulldogs with a knee injury.

Along with the absences of Jaeger O'Meara and David Swallow, that means the club's five best midfielders will be unavailable this weekend.

Eade admitted it was hard to not feel frustrated after two seasons of rotten luck with injury.

"We've just got to deal with it, it's just the way it is," he said.

"We've got our five best midfielders out and it makes it difficult.

"Last year we found (Aaron) Hall and (Jesse) Lonergan stepped up.

"We've just got to take the silver lining outlook that there'll be a positive out of it somewhere."

The Suns' fit list is so thin that with three players going out, they only have two midfielders coming in, Lonergan and Mitch Hallahan.

Eade said they would have to be creative and push someone such as Jack Martin from defence into the middle to make up the numbers.

Despite the injury carnage, the Suns coach said his men were in good spirits on Thursday morning, saying they could still beat the Bulldogs.

"The players are quite buoyant, our form is on the improve the last four or five weeks," he said.

Ablett and Rischitelli will head to Melbourne to speak with their respective specialists early next week.

Eade brushed aside speculation on Ablett's future, saying he would be back for day one of pre-season.

Prestia is likely to miss just one match, while O'Meara will play a full NEAFL game and possibly be in contention for an AFL return the following week.

Vice-captains Tom Lynch, Steven May and Prestia will share captaincy duties for the remaining seven weeks.