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Gold Coast are set to lose injured co-captain Jarrod Witts for an extended period after he suffered a knee injury in a 10-point loss to Adelaide.

Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew says he'll have to get creative to cover the massive hole left by co-captain Jarrod Witts' knee injury.

The Suns return to the Gold Coast on Saturday with Dew feeling "sick in the guts" over his side's 10-point loss at Adelaide.

The Crows, with six-goal Taylor Walker starring, overran the Suns, whose loss was compounded by Witts' injury.

The ruckman was substituted out of Friday night's Adelaide Oval fixture after hurting his left knee with medicos suspecting medial ligament and possibly cartilage damage.

"It's not great," Dew said of Witts' prognosis.

"We are obviously not sure without a scan but it's going to be a number of weeks (sidelined).

"We will have to be a bit creative and work out where to from here."

Potential ruck replacement Zac Smith is still about two months away from returning from his knee injury while another tall, Sam Day, will also miss an extended period after injuring a knee last week.

Witts will have scans when Gold Coast return home after flying to Adelaide at short notice last Tuesday to avoid any potential involvement in Brisbane's coronavirus outbreak.

"Before the season started we talked about this, that there's going to be times when we get 12 hours notice to get on a plane and you're not sure how long you will go (away)," Dew said.

"Our guys were no fuss and very professional.

"Unfortunately, you feel a bit sick in the guts that we didn't get the result."

Adelaide veteran Walker was the matchwinner, continuing his red-hot start to the season - he has returns of five, six and six goals.

"He was a pain in the ass," Dew said.

"But full respect to him because having lived in this town, it can be tough, particularly when it's not going well.

"Credit to him. I think there should be a little bit more respect shown certainly across the industry. At different times, we are very quick to jump on people.

"And I am sure a lot of people have changed their tune (on Walker) but I think if you look at his intention, it's always to do the best for the Adelaide footy club - and he's doing very well right now."