Carlton coach Mick Malthouse says it would be a horrible mistake to think restricting Gary Ablett will be enough to win the Blues Saturday’s AFL clash with Gold Coast.

The Suns’ superstar amassed 49 disposals and two goals in last round’s upset of Collingwood.

While Magpies coach Nathan Buckley has admitted he regrets not tagging Ablett, Malthouse is wary of the opposite danger of paying him too much attention.

Malthouse said the Suns had developed nicely under his former assistant Guy McKenna and were much more than a one-man team.

“We can’t lock ourselves into thinking stop Gary Ablett and we’re going to stop Gold Coast,” he said on Wednesday.

“That would be a horrible mistake.

“That would underestimate the value of other players within their team.”

But Malthouse said that didn’t mean Carlton would let Ablett run free, saying while they might not be able to stop him racking up touches, they had to limit the damage.

“If you say that he’s going to get 30-odd possessions it’s how and where he gets them and what he does with them,” Malthouse said.

“If you’re not going to be around him and let him please himself what he does with it, good luck.”

Malthouse said the Suns had plotted their development well, by recruiting quality experienced players like Ablett, Campbell Brown and Jarrod Harbrow to ease the pressure on their highly-rated youngsters in their early years.

In contrast, fellow expansion side Greater Western Sydney, who are winless this season, have focussed heavily on youth at the expense of recruiting established stars.

“You can view that any way you want,” Malthouse said.

“All I’m saying is I think (Gold Coast) have got a very good mix of players.

“I think that’s been well done to enhance them to grow, as opposed to they could have opted to just do it with kids.

“(Then) I think the progress gets slowed and some players get punished physically and you don’t know what you’ve got.”