A cruel double injury blow will leave the Gold Coast Suns without their AFL co-captains against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.
Off-contract star Tom Lynch will miss four weeks after his troublesome right knee flared up again, while defensive pillar Steven May is out with an infected finger.
May had minor surgery to repair a dislocation suffered a fortnight ago against Brisbane, with the wound becoming infected after the weekend's loss to Adelaide.
He will be reassessed next week, while star forward Lynch will be put in cotton wool until June.
The in-demand Suns star missed the tail end of 2017 with an injury to the same knee and will be submitted to a strict rehabilitation program this month in an effort to strengthen the troublesome area.
It will keep him out of games against the Bulldogs, Melbourne and Port Adelaide.
The Suns have a bye the following week, with Lynch expected to return in their first visit to Metricon Stadium this year against Geelong on June 2.
"Given the history of that, we've decided to take a fairly conservative approach and Tom will take some time off to get some more strength in and around that knee area," Suns football operations manager Jon Haines said.
"We certainly want to look after Tom's long-term health and set him up for the back half of the year."
The setbacks come as the improved Suns eye a victory in Ballarat against the 15th-placed Bulldogs that would improve their record to 4-3 under new coach Stuart Dew.
In better news, forward Callum Ah Chee is a chance of returning to the senior ranks after impressing in two NEAFL appearances since an off-season hamstring injury.
Tall forward Peter Wright is finally fit enough to return from a calf injury, with Haines predicting him to play more than half a game for the Suns' NEAFL side this weekend.
