Gold Coast Suns Senior Coach Guy McKenna is demanding a whole team effort when they play the Bulldogs on Saturday to fill the void left by injured Captain Gary Ablett.

McKenna expects his second tier of players including Dion Prestia and David Swallow to drive the team but has also put an onus on the less established players to step up.

“You’re not going to see a huge amount of a step up in Dion Prestia, David Swallow, those blokes whose output has been superb already for most of this season,” McKenna said.

“You might get a small movement but it’s the movement from underneath those boys that’s going to be important.

“Jack Martin, Jesse Lonergan, Alex Sexton, some of these guys that would probably be another year to two years from going inside.”

The Suns have had a relatively settled lineup in 2014, drawing on more players than only Sydney (31), but McKenna said with injury comes new opportunities for young players. 

 “A door shuts on Gary’s season but the door certainly flies open for some of these other boys to jump in and grab an opportunity.

“Our side’s been relatively settled we’ve just started to creak and groan a little bit. Opportunities are going to arrive.”

Two changes have been made to the Suns side after injuries to Ablett and defender Trent McKenzie kept them out of the side.

Tom Murphy and Matt Shaw have been named as their replacements, adding a combined 178 games experience to the team.

The Suns also have a pending milestone on Saturday with Steven May set to play his 50^th game for the club against the Bulldogs.

 “It is good to join my teammates who have played 50 games,” May told The Gold Coast Bulletin.

“I took a bit longer but I’m happy to be going in the right direction.”

Leading the competition in one percenters (averaging 11.3 per game), the 22-year-old has announced himself in the Suns back six this season.

“I think that’s (All Australian discussions are) a bit extreme and it’s pretty humbling to hear that but I have a lot of work to do and I still have to finish off the year,” he said.

“We have a tough run and hopefully make the finals.”