Suns recruit Mabior Chol and Geelong utility Jed Bews are doubtful for Round 1 after both players were unable to complete a full four quarters of their side's pre-season hitout.
Gold Coast were able to get over the top of the Cats in convincing fashion at Metricon Stadium with Chris Scott's side missing a number of key players on the night.
However, the promising victory was soured for Suns coach Stuart Dew, with new arrival Mabior Chol forced to watch from the sidelines in the second half due to a hamstring injury.
With star forward Ben King out for the season with an ACL injury, Chol was moved into the forward line to shore up the side's attacking reinforcements and booted a goal in the second quarter before being benched for the remainder of the match.
Dew explained that the resting of the key tall was a precaution, however, the extent of his injury was still unknown.
"I guess when there's the word tight, you're in doubt until scans, and hopefully get hat ticked off," Dew said in his post-match interview.
"I think we're the last game in round one, so we've got a little bit of time.
"There's no need to test him now and our main session will be Friday week, so there's a bit of time there."
The pain was very much felt within both camps with Cats defender Jed Bews also suffering a suspected concussion in the first half, leaving him unable to partake in the side's Round 1 clash should he fail the concussion test.
Assistant coach Shaun Grigg said that the coaching staff were unsure about whether or not Bews would be good to go for the Cats' opening round clash against the Bombers.
"All we heard in the coach's box is he's in the concussion protocol," Grigg told media.
"Whatever that means medically, we'll get the info off the docs probably tomorrow."
Despite the injury to Chol, the Suns had plenty to smile about at Metricon Stadium with a number of players showing great promise in the final showing of pre-season.
Midfielder-turned-forward Jack Lukosius was imperious inside-50, booting three goals and taking six marks and looking at home in his new role.
Attacking counterpart Ben Ainsworth thrived across half-forward with five goals whilst in the middle of the park skipper Touk Miller (34 disposals, two goals), Matt Rowell (27 disposals, eight clearances) and Noah Anderson (25 disposals) all were industrious for the Suns.
As for the Cats, Cam Guthrie (32 touches, one goal), Jeremy Cameron (three goals) and Tom Atkins (25 disposals, six tackles) were best-on despite not getting the result they were hoping for in their last pre-season match of the year.
Gold Coast play the final match of Round 1, travelling to Optus Stadium to play the Eagles for the second consecutive season.
With the Eagles significantly weakened due to a mammoth amount of injuries, there has been no better time than the present for the Suns to spring an upset and get off to a good start in what is such a pivotal campaign for Stuart Dew.
Meanwhile, Geelong will go up against the rising Bombers in their season launch encounter at the MCG, with many punters expecting this to be the year that the old age of Chris Scott's side finally catches up with them.
