By Michael Whiting
 

A number of Gold Coast SUNS reserves defenders have put their hand up for senior selection against Hawthorn on Saturday after starring last weekend.

Reserves coach Shaun Hart was glowing in his praise of the back six, saying Jack Hutchins, Charlie Dixon and Joel Wilkinson should all come into consideration after superb displays against Morningside.

Hart was also full of admiration for Karmichael Hunt's onball efforts, and said senior coach Guy McKenna would have some headaches with selection this week.

"Hutchins we thought had his best game, Wilkinson is rapidly becoming an AFL player in terms of his smarts and his discipline and Dixon was super in his role developing as a centre half-back potentially,” Hart said.

"I believe if he had clunked most of the marks he had gone for at senior level, he'd be one of the best centre half-forwards in the competition," Hart said of Dixon.

"But we've tried him at centre half-back and he didn't look out of place against probably the premier centre half-forward in the competition (Kent Abey) and he's shown he can be used in either position."

Senior defensive coach Dean Solomon said a number of options could be thrown up to take on the Hawks, in particular in curtailing superstar Lance Franklin.

"There's no reason why we won't swing a few changes. We still want to have a look at a few young guys and there were four or five guys that put their hands up on the weekend again that played well," Solomon said.

"We haven't discussed Hawthorn yet but we might even chuck a young kid on Buddy (Franklin) to give him experience.

"(Tom) Lynchy, Hutchins, why wouldn't we give them a taste of what it's like? We might rotate two or three on him just to give them a taste of the way he plays.

"We'd be silly to think Hawthorn revolves around Buddy because they have a super side."