Gold Coast will be without Lachie Weller as they chase their third win this season while continuing their audacious push to be the Melbourne Storm of the AFL.
Weller tweaked his hamstring during Friday's training session and will wait on scan results, with Ben Ainsworth (knee) returning a month earlier than first feared to provide handy respite.
The Suns (2-1) will host Carlton (0-3), who welcome back key forward Charlie Curnow from a knee injury in Sunday's clash. The hosts are priced as warm $1.55 favourites.
Gold Coast's impressive start has been noted by more than the bookies, with Brayden Fiorini admitting things had shifted ever so slightly in rugby league heartland.
"You can feel the vibe - I was stopped at the beach the other day by a couple of elderly people saying how exciting it is," the Suns midfielder said.
"And I've never really had that before.
"You look at (the NRL's) Melbourne Storm in an AFL dominated state - they've been so successful, they got the fans and succeeded so I suppose that's what we're looking towards.
"Hopefully we win more games and that will flow on from that."
The Suns have finished no better than 12th since joining the league in 2011 while the Storm have won five titles, two of which were stripped retrospectively for salary cap breaches.
Noting that "it's a long journey", Fiorini is aware of the optimistic nature of the comparison and the chasm between the clubs.
But he says it's something to aspire to, and that the new-look team feels capable of maintaining their competitive edge beyond this month.
The journey will continue at Metricon Stadium on Sunday when a visiting Carlton will provide a different test than their previous two wins as underdogs.
And Fiorini will be a key figure as he shares defensive duties with Jack Bowes on Blues star Patrick Cripps.
"Yeah I love it," Fiorini said of his recent assignments that have included stints marking Nat Fyfe and Marcus Bontempelli.
"He's (Cripps) probably the biggest (in size) of them all.
"We'll just do our all to limit them."
