GOLD Coast will be without Brownlow medallist Matt Rowell for Saturday's match against St Kilda in Darwin as he battles an ankle injury.

Rowell missed Sunday's win over Greater Western Sydney and coach Damien Hardwick confirmed on Wednesday morning the inside midfielder would be absent again.

"He's probably doubtful," Hardwick started, before elaborating.

"We'll probably look to pencil him in against Port Adelaide in a week-and-a-half's time.

"He's a tough lad, but we just want to make sure when we get him back he's not missing another week after that.

"We'd rather be a little more conservative this week to make sure he's right next week."

Rowell has had a disrupted campaign to date after fracturing his hand in February's State of Origin game and missing the first three matches of the season.

His return coincided with a dip in form from the Suns, where they won just one of four matches.

"Matt Rowell is hard to replace. He's a Brownlow medallist," Hardwick said.

"What we're really happy with is Al Davies has come in and played his role pretty consistently. 

"He plays limited game time, around 60 to 65 per cent, but his output has been quite significant.

"We're really pleased with his performance.

"Every time you do lose a quality player, it gives you a great opportunity to find out what's next and I thought we took some steps next week."

Another player set for greater opportunity is ruckman Ned Moyle.

Veteran Jarrod Witts was rested from the win over the Giants, with Hardwick confirming Moyle would keep his spot to face the Saints.

The three-time premiership coach is weighing up whether to use both rucks in the same team after seeing other clubs have success with that model.

"We had some initial discussions of what it may look like," he said. 

"We were really happy with Moyle last week, he'll obviously play. Whether we bring in the second ruck, we’ll wait and see."

Gold Coast travels to Darwin on Thursday morning for its annual trip in the Top End, facing St Kilda and then Port Adelaide six days later.

Hardwick said the win over the Giants in humid and slippery conditions was the perfect precursor to the week in the Northern Territory.

"The game itself does look a little different than it does normally back here, but we're looking forward to that challenge," he said.

"It's a little bit slippery, little bit more territory, little bit more surge. Once again, our guys are accustomed to it, we train it consistently, we’re looking forward to it."