De Koning usually plays as a key defender, but he had a game-high 11 clearances in the ruck last week against Adelaide.
He was one of the Cat's best in the narrow loss and assistant coach James Kelly said it showed De Koning's growing versatility.
"It does make us think a little bit differently ... it does give us confidence that wherever we put him, we know we can get a really good level of play from him," Kelly said.
"We really trust him.
"It makes us a bit harder to play against if we don't know where he's going."
While Geelong will also welcome back young ruckman Mitch Edwards for the GMHBA Stadium match, the Suns dropped their veteran big man Jarrod Witts.
It will leave Ned Moyle to do most of the ruck work against De Koning and Edwards.
Geelong star Tom Stewart is out because of concussion and fellow defender Lawson Humphries will return.
The Suns made four changes, losing Wil Powell, Will Graham and Lachie Weller to injury.
Charlie Ballard, Zeke Uwland, Sam Clohesy and Ben Jepson will come in for Gold Coast.
It will be an important test for the two teams. The Cats are coming off tight losses to Carlton and the Crows, while the Suns were a major disappointment last Saturday night against two-time defending premiers Brisbane.
Gold Coast, who are eighth on the ladder, are also yet to win at Geelong after nine visits.
"We are progressing pretty well and we are still in a reasonable spot," Kelly said of the fourth-placed Cats.
We aren't jumping at shadows with one or two losses, and just keep moving forward."
Kelly deputised at Thursday's pre-game media conference because Chris Scott was ill. But Kelly said Scott would coach on Friday night.
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