By Michael Whiting

INJURED Gold Coast SUNS defender Jarrod Harbrow is aiming to return for the SUNS round 14 clash against West Coast on June 30.

Harbrow, 23, had his fine start to the season cruelled in round four against the Brisbane Lions when an innocuous fall ended in a broken right elbow.

The ensuing surgery ruled the former Western Bulldog out for eight to 10 weeks, and so far his recovery is going well.

He still has a special cast on the right arm but has been able to start doing aerobic exercise on the bike to keep his conditioning up.

"It's been three weeks since surgery so I have another five or six to go," Harbrow said on Tuesday.

"I'm trying to pencil in round 14 if everything goes to plan."

Behind white-hot captain Gary Ablett, Harbrow was a clear standout in the first three weeks of the season when the SUNS suffered heavy losses to Adelaide and St Kilda and a narrow defeat against Essendon.

Harbrow was in Brisbane for the launch of the AFL's Indigenous Round on Tuesday, and said helping the SUNS indigenous recruits was something he took seriously since joining the club for its inception last year.

"I had some experience at Melbourne playing at the Bulldogs, my former club, where there wasn't a lot of senior (indigenous) players so I had to learn the ropes and guide the boys best I could," he said.

"So coming to the Gold Coast I took on the senior role and we've got young boys coming through now like Harley Bennell and Steven May from the NT.

"They've fitted in really well and we're more of a support or voice for them if they need comfort or someone to fall on."

Karmichael Hunt had taken Bennell under his wing – and his roof – last year, but with the former rugby league star and his partner expecting their first child, Bennell has now moved in with Harbrow.

Harbrow said programs around football clubs had made things easier for indigenous players to settle in since beginning his career five years ago.

He said the GC SUNS were disappointed after last week's loss to GWS and would have to lift their intensity if they were to upset his former teammates in Darwin on Saturday night.

"It's (GWS) a game we set ourselves for to come away with the win but it goes to show if you drop off a couple of per cent and the effort and intensity is not there, you won't come away with the win," he said.