Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett's season could be over after damaging a knee in a 45-point loss against Adelaide on Saturday.
Ablett suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee in the opening quarter of Adelaide's 19.11 (125) to 12.8 (80) victory at Adelaide Oval.
The dual Brownlow medallist is expected to miss three to four matches in the latest injury to cruel his season.
Ablett, who missed 10 games earlier in the season because of shoulder surgery, hobbled off after his knee buckled after contact with teammate Matt Shaw.
Asked if Ablett would play again this season, Eade said: "We might just not worry about it.
"We have lost our four best midfielders now to four different knee injuries - you wouldn't read about it."
The SUNS, despite the absence of their superstar midfielder, were plucky until being over-run in the last term with Tom Lynch (four goals) threatening to inspire an upset.
The tall attackers dominated an Adelaide defence depleted by the late withdrawal of key back Daniel Talia due to illness.
But Adelaide's vaunted midfielders Scott Thompson, Patrick Dangerfield and Richard Douglas overwhelmed the SUNS to create enough opportunities for a fluent forward line.
Small attacker Charlie Cameron recorded a career-best haul of four goals while Eddie Betts and a strong-marking Josh Jenkins slotted three each in a win in front of 42,656 spectators.
Adelaide led by only nine points at three-quarter time but booted eight goals to two in the last term.
The win sees Adelaide leapfrog Greater Western Sydney and the Western Bulldogs into sixth place, but coach Scott Camporeale was tempered when assessing the club's finals aspirations.
"What pleases me the most is the resilience of the group to be able to stick with it, when it wasn't necessarily going our way," Camporeale said.
“[We’ve] just got to try to keep winning to make sure we earn the right to be there at the end of the year.
"There's something pretty tasty at the end of the year for them if they want it – that's what we're driving for … they want to do something special.
ADELAIDE 4.1 9.5 11.10 19.11 (125)
GOLD COAST 4.1 7.4 10.7 12.8 (80)
GOALS
Adelaide: Cameron 4, Jenkins, Betts 3, Walker, Douglas, Sloane 2, Dangerfield, Laird, Martin
Gold Coast: Lynch 4, Dixon 3, Matera 2, Day, Russell, Lonergan
BEST
Adelaide: Douglas, Dangerfield, Laird, Lever, Thompson, Jacobs
Gold Coast: Lynch, Bennell, Lonergan, Dixon, Hall, Kolodjashnij
INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Gold Coast: Ablett (knee)
SUBSTITUTES
Adelaide: Rory Atkins replaced Matthew Wright at three-quarter time
Gold Coast: Joshua Glenn replaced Gary Ablett at quarter time
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Farmer, Hay, Harris
Official crowd: 42,656 at Adelaide Oval
