GOLD Coast will target Travis Cloke at its own peril, according to Collingwood defender Lachie Keeffe.
Suns coach Guy McKenna has urged his players to get "in Cloke's head" and remind the Magpie spearhead of the poor kicking that dogged him at the start of this year.
But Keeffe said the Magpies players would not be afraid to step in if they felt Gold Coast had crossed the line.
"I think Trav's a pretty big boy. He can take care of himself," Keeffe said at Melbourne Airport on Friday afternoon, before departing for Metricon Stadium.
"We've seen over the last couple of weeks the hard work that he's put in is coming to fruition.
"If anyone goes after any of our players, we'd like to think we're a close enough tight knit unit to help that individual out."
Cloke has undergone a sold form reversal from the start of the year.
Having kicked just 10 goals in the first 10 rounds of the season, Cloke has booted 19 in the last five weeks. He now sits 16 goals adrift of Coleman Medal leader Jay Schulz.
But it will be at the other end of the ground where the Magpies could face some concerns.
The three-pronged tall attack of Tom Lynch, Sam Day and Charlie Dixon could stretch Collingwood's defence, with no clear third tall to match up on the big Gold Coast forwards.
Nick Maxwell and Ben Reid will both play in the VFL, as they work their way back from injury concerns, and Keeffe said Tom Langdon or even Alan Toovey may be called on to restrict one the Suns' key big men.
"I've got full faith in our back six," Keefe said.
"It's more about how we defend together. They (the Suns) are quite an impressive attacking outfit. If we can nullify that in the way we've looked at it during the week, that would be great."
Collingwood is fully aware of the damage the Suns can cause on their home turf at Metricon Stadium. The Magpies went down by seven points when the teams met at the venue in round 17 last year.
Keeffe said his side would need to be on guard on Saturday evening, particularly after the Suns' 40-point win over fellow top-four aspirant Geelong a fortnight ago.
"I'm never a big one for home ground advantage, but this would be one of the toughest trips going up there, with the heat this time of year compared to Melbourne," Keeffe said.
"Aside from that, they're a good team. They've shown that. Only two weeks ago they knocked off Geelong up there so it's going to be a tough game."
