Dion Prestia ruled out of Gold Coast Suns’ third NAB Challenge game against Adelaide Crows

DION Prestia is the latest Gold Coast player to be ruled out of Friday’s NAB Challenge pre-season game against Adelaide.

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DION Prestia is the latest Gold Coast player to be ruled out of Friday’s pre-season game against Adelaide as the Suns prepare to enter Round 1 without any of their first-choice midfielders having played a game.

Prestia will join captain Gary Ablett, Jaeger O’Meara and David Swallow on the sideline when the Suns play the Crows in their final NAB Challenge game at Metricon Stadium.

The 23-year-old has failed to recover from the soreness in his left knee that stopped him from playing in previous NAB Challenge games against Brisbane and West Coast.

“We just don’t feel he has done enough footy work yet so he won’t play this week,” Suns coach Rodney Eade said.

Prestia’s omission follows Ablett’s scratching due to an ankle injury as the Gold Coast take a cautious approach with high-profile players.

Ablett won’t play in the Suns reserves’ pre-season game against Aspley the weekend before Round 1. It seems a likely scenario for Prestia too.

Eade remained “reasonably confident” Prestia would be fit to play Round 1 against Essendon at Metricon Stadium on March 26.

“We will see how he goes in the next couple of weeks but he should be OK so we are reasonably confident with him,” Eade said.

“We are just managing his loads. He didn’t progress as quickly as we thought a couple of weeks ago but he is still OK. We aren’t going to take any risks or fast track players if they are not ready.”

Midfielder Jesse Lonergan will also be absent on Friday with an ankle injury.