Injured Gold Coast midfielder Jaeger O'Meara is potentially just over a month away from a return to action.
The young gun hasn't featured for the Suns in over a year due to a serious knee injury but coach Rodney Eade says O'Meara is making good progress.
Eade says the 22-year-old has begun running and he's hopeful of a return to the Suns' reserves in approximately five weeks.
Whatever happens however, Eade insists there'll be no rushing back the 2013 AFL rising star.
"Five weeks maybe, we're hopeful that he might be able to have a jog around in the seconds," Eade told SEN Radio.
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"We're certainly not going to push him. We want him to be in a good head space, want him to have done the work.
"Make sure his body's conditioned so it can handle football."
Eade has also suggested coaches may be forced to rest players from matches every six weeks as a result of reduced interchanges.
Players struggling with cramp was a common sight during last weekend's round two fixtures and Eade believes signs of fatigue are only going to increase as a result of being limited to 90 interchanges per match.
"Every six weeks a player might need to have a spell," Eade said.
"I know that's going to take a lot of courage but we're going to have to try and be predictive. You don't want players to get soft tissue injuries."
