PORT Adelaide notched its 13th consecutive win on Saturday night on the back of a third-quarter burst that left no questions as to how good it can be when up and running, but the 33-point win over Gold Coast came at a cost with an ankle injury to in-form defender Trent McKenzie.
Small forward Junior Rioli will also miss the Power's clash with Carlton at Marvel Stadium next Saturday night, but Ken Hinkley was confident his side will move ahead without too much fuss.
POWER v SUNS Full match coverage and stats
The coach confirmed McKenzie would most likely be unavailable to face the Blues but that the injury was not major.
"He went off and had some X-rays," Hinkley said post-match.
"We're optimistic he's not got a significantly damaged ankle, but he's got a badly sprained ankle so he'll miss some time."
A straight swap for Tom Jonas seems likely after the club captain has spent weeks in the SANFL, trying to break back into the strong senior line up.
"Tom would have first dibs," Hinkley said.
"He's always led the right way, he's been the right person to lead the club and if Trent does miss a bit of time, To is pretty clear in front at the moment for his turn to take that spot back."
Rioli kicked two goals and looked lively in his first game since round 13, but won't be available for the trip to Melbourne next weekend.
"He's got a really special moment for his family – it's his father’s anniversary and he needs to be back in Darwin of which he’s got the full support of us as a football club … but it was nice to have him out there playing footy tonight and you could see he was having some fun, and that’s important."
It wasn't such a fun evening for Gold Coast and coach Stuart Dew, despite leading at half-time.
"We lost our fundamentals," Dew said of the third quarter whitewash that saw the Suns go from six points in front to a 43-point deficit at the final change.
"We got beaten significantly early in the third and I think they got real momentum off the back of that. It was disappointing, because for a large part of the game I thought we attacked them really well."
A major downside for Gold Coast was the form of full-forward Ben King who was substituted out of the match late in the third quarter with just one disposal to his name.
It followed a six-disposal goalless outing against Collingwood a week earlier.
"He was frustrated," Dew said of King.
"I don't think he's had many nights like that, that haven't been his night.
"It was a simple message: 'Look, we're going to go a little smaller'. It was purely tactical and on a greasy night we just wanted to change the look."
