AFTER being torched by Carlton's best players at the weekend, Gold Coast won't be making the same mistake against St Kilda on Sunday, vowing to target its top player.

Speaking ahead of his 300th game, Gary Ablett said the Suns had already discussed locking down the Saints' most influential player – but wouldn't elaborate on who.

Bryce Gibbs (43 disposals and two goals), Kade Simpson (33) and Sam Docherty (30) ran around almost unopposed for the Blues and destroyed Gold Coast in a 10-point win.

"I've got no doubt we'll have a target player this week," Ablett said.

"We probably did that early in the season and then went away from it a bit.

"We will target a player for them. I won't tell you who that will be, but we'll make sure they have a tough day.

"We'll be doing it the right way, it won't be cheap shots behind the play."

On the flipside, Ablett was bumped, bashed and bullied by not only Blues tagger Ed Curnow, but almost every Carlton player who ran past him.

He still mustered 25 disposals, but was down on his usual influence.

"There's no doubt I pulled up sore this week, but I kind of knew early in the game their focus was to limit my impact," Ablett said.

"I tried to stay calm out there. I know there were times when it did frustrate me a bit.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again this week, and I'm looking forward to that."

Gold Coast is now 5-7 and battling to stay in touch with the top eight.

Ablett said physically he still had plenty of good football in him, and that the biggest hurdles were mental.

Although he is contracted to Gold Coast for 2018, the 33-year-old's future is in limbo after saying during the pre-season that asking for another trade to Geelong or even retirement were not out of the question.

He refused to talk about his future at the press conference.

"It's not something I want to talk about today," he said.

"Enough's been said earlier on in the year and that's something we'll talk about more at the end of the year.

"My body is feeling great at the moment.

"The only thing I can control is that I'm doing everything right to give myself the best opportunity of getting out there every week and the best opportunity to perform at a high level.

"I want to take my game to another level so the second half of the season we can win more games and hopefully get our first taste of finals footy.

"I want to get the most out of my body and get back to playing some finals football on the 'G, that's what it's about."