The Gold Coast Suns will face Adelaide this Saturday at Metricon Stadium without the services of key defensive pillars Steven May and Rory Thompson.

May will miss the game after suffering a hamstring injury in the final quarter of Gold Coast’s Round Four win over Carlton.

The co-captain's stint on the sidelines comes at an inopportune time with Thompson also in the grandstands because of a quad injury and swingman Sam Day sidelined for the season.

“The one disappointing thing from the night was Steven’s hamstring which happened late in the game,” Suns head of football Marcus Ashcroft told goldcoastfc.com.au.

“He’ll definitely miss the next couple of weeks with that injury and we will manage it on a week-to-week basis after that point.

“Unfortunately for Rory he got some quad tightness last Thursday before the game, so we opted not to risk him. He also got a scan today and will probably miss the next two weeks.”

AFL Preview: Crows v Suns

Inexperienced defenders Jack Leslie (eight AFL games) and former South Adelaide best & fairest winner Keegan Brooksby (11 AFL games) will likely shoulder the load of containing a Crows forward line averaging a competition-high 128.2 points per game. 

Ben Ainsworth, Pearce Hanley, Trent McKenzie and Mitch Hallahan have also been ruled out of this week’s game by the Suns.