Hawthorn will lick their wounds during next week's AFL bye with Josh Gibson joining fellow veteran Luke Hodge on the injury list.
Gibson was benched for the final quarter of the Hawks' 16-point loss to Gold Coast at the MCG on Saturday after suffering groin soreness.
The 33-year-old has struggled for form this season, and it hasn't helped that injuries to James Frawley and Grant Birchall have often forced him to line up on taller key forwards.
He and rookie defender Kaiden Brand had their hands full against 199cm Suns spearhead Tom Lynch and the 203cm Peter Wright, with the pair combining for 20 marks and four goals.
"He's been a bit disturbed in the groin for a couple of weeks," Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said of Gibson.
"When you're playing against big fellas like Wright and Lynch, you're already giving away six inches on the reach to them.
"If you can't jump, you're in a bit of strife, so we needed to take him out of the game at three-quarter time."
It is unclear how long Gibson will be sidelined for but Clarkson is hopeful Birchall will return straight after the bye.
Former skipper Hodge has also been nursing a groin issue sustained during their win over Sydney in round 10, and was a late withdrawal from the Gold Coast clash.
"He wanted to play but he's been pretty sore the last couple of weeks," Clarkson said.
"He played under a bit of duress, to be fair ... he wasn't able to complete a full training session on Friday, so he was unable to play."
The loss to the Suns leaves the Hawks stranded in 16th place on four wins and eight losses, with a nightmare Adelaide Oval clash against the ladder-leading Crows waiting after the bye.
With injuries testing his side's depth, Clarkson said the next generation of Hawks deserved time to prove themselves.
"Many will perhaps wonder and be making comparisons to our Hawthorn side from our good years of (2013-15), and even last year," Clarkson said.
"We only had 12 players tonight that played even in our qualifying final (last year), and nine premiership players from the year before.
"Our side's very, very different."
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