GARY Ablett will play his first game of the year on Thursday against the Western Bulldogs, but Gold Coast doesn't want its focus solely on its champion midfielder.

Ablett has recovered from the dislocated shoulder that cost him the tail end of 2016, and after completing contact drills for the past month, is ready to play the final JLT Community Series match against the premier.

But young leader Touk Miller says the days of relying on Ablett are gone.

Former Adelaide midfielder Jarryd Lyons is also set to make his Suns' debut, and along with Pearce Hanley, Aaron Hall, Michael Barlow, David Swallow, Alex Sexton and Miller himself, the Suns are now so well stocked in the midfield they will play Ablett in the forward line.

"Everyone knows what he (Ablett) brings to the team in terms of his skill level, but you don't want to make it The Gary Show going into it," Miller said.

"We had to build around him at the beginning, but now I think we're starting to get a lot more midfielders going to his level and we can work well as a team.

"It's going to be great having Gary in the squad and playing at his best … (but) we probably don't want to make it all about him."

Following wins over the Brisbane Lions and Essendon to start their pre-season, the Suns will wheel out a full strength team to play the Bulldogs, with co-captain Tom Lynch also returning after a rest against the Bombers.

Sam Day (hip), Michael Rischitelli (ACL) and Jarrod Harbrow (ankle) are the only players unavailable for selection.

Miller said playing the Bulldogs was the ultimate test ahead of round one.

"They're the reigning premiers … we're looking to knock them off," he said.

"We're trying to keep a winning culture at the moment and the last few games have proved that. Probably not super convincing, but a win's a win and we want to keep that rolling.

"We know (the Bulldogs) move the ball really quickly, and defensively they're probably the best in the game at the moment.

"We've been watching clips of them for what they do well in defence and how they set their trap up, and we try and model our game off the best, which are the premiers, so they're going to be hard to squeeze through."