For a fleeting couple of hours, Gold Coast star Gary Ablett was back.
But a failed fitness test ensures Ablett will have a frustrating end to the AFL season - and possibly his time at the Suns.
As expected, the two-time Brownlow Medallist was among four inclusions for Saturday night's season-ending away game against Port Adelaide.
Under AFL rules, the Suns had to name Ablett in their team for the Saturday game.
Then Ablett had to pass the fitness test at Thursday night training.
"Gaz gave himself the best opportunity to play this weekend, but unfortunately at training this evening he simply could not reach the speed required to be passed fit to play this weekend," said Gold Coast football boss Marcus Ashcroft.
Jack Bowes also failed a fitness test on Thursday evening and misses out on a return because of his hamstring injury.
Ablett has struggled with a persistent hamstring problem in the last few weeks of the season and missed their last two games.
There is persistent speculation that Ablett will try to return to Geelong, despite having a year left on his contract.
The Suns swiftly knocked back a Geelong trade request from Ablett last year, based on personal reasons.
Earlier on Thursday, interim coach Dean Solomon had said Ablett was likely to play against the Power.
"I had a really good conversation with him five minutes ago and he said 'I'm feeling really confident'," he said.
"You back in his judgement; he's earnt a lot of trust over the years and knows his body better than all of us."
"But he's ready to go, massive chance."
The Suns have lost both games under the tenure of Solomon since the axing of head coach Rodney Eade.
Attempting to simplify things, Solomon's self-confessed "ugly" approach focuses on winning contested ball, team defence and tackling.
"What we've done is strip it back and make it really simple for the guys and really clear," Solomon said of the changes since Eade was in charge.
"That's not to say that the game plan was wrong, we just made it really simple and clear."
Solomon pointed to Saturday's opponents as a good example of how that style of footy can be effective.
"(Port) missed finals the last two years and they've gone back to the fundamentals and got themselves back into a finals campaign," he said.
"I think you'll see two similar styles of footy on Saturday night, so hopefully it holds us in good stead."
Mitch Hallahan, originally dropped, will retain his spot because Ablett and Bowest were ruled out.
The Suns recalled Jarryd Lyons and Will Brodie, while Jesse Lonergan, Jack Leslie and Josh Schoenfeld were dropped.
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