Curtailing the influence of Gary Ablett is just one priority for Bulldogs Senior Coach Brendan McCartney, mindful that there are lower profile Gold Coast players that require attention on Sunday.

The Bulldogs will face off against the in-form Suns for the first time since round eight last year and the talent across the board at the Gold Coast has caught McCartney’s attention.

“I’d like to tell little Gaz that I’ve slept well all week not worrying about him but he has bobbed up into my mind,” McCartney said.

“Gary’s a phenomenal player and we have a lot of respect for him here but I think the Gold Coast probably haven’t been given enough respect for the work they have done with their lesser lights.”

Developing a young core of players has paid dividends for the Suns, particularly those picked later in the draft. 

“We all know who their pick one and two and three have been and they have progressed really well but they have done a brilliant job developing their lesser lights in my opinion,” he said.

“Some of those boys are playing really good footy and not probably getting the accolades that some of the stars in there team are getting.”

Both sides rely heavily on winning the contested ball and McCartney said the Bulldogs are more than prepared for the challenge.

“The contest decides pretty much what happens all over the ground but their capacity to win the contested ball at the next kick has been really impressive,” he said.

“They are playing really good footy, we’ve been ok too – we probably could have got a better result in a couple of weeks but we haven’t done a lot wrong this year.

“We’ve been in games - apart from round one - right to the end and we are confident of doing that again.”