Geelong midfielder James Kelly says Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett will be under attack in next Saturday night's grudge match against his old side.

Cats coach Chris Scott is confident dual Cats premiership player Ablett's first clash with his former team-mates will not distract Geelong.

Brownlow Medallist Ablett kept the Cats waiting all season in 2010 before finally announcing he was taking the big bucks to join the AFL's new Gold Coast Suns team.

"Quite a few Geelong people are going up to the game," Scott said after admitting the Cats were lucky to escape with a 15.12 (102) to 14.16 (100) win at Etihad Stadium on Friday night in their round-nine game against fourth-placed Carlton.

"No one bares any ill-will towards Gary Ablett. He's been a champion of Geelong and I would expect Geelong people would treat him that way."

But Kelly said there would be plenty of sledging going on.

"We might be in his ear," Kelly told SEN Radio on Saturday.

"As a group we'll try to make sure he has a quiet day.

"He's the best player in the competition. If he's in the way, everyone's going to do that (knock him over).

"No one's going to go out of their way to maliciously hurt him but if he's there he'll get hit."

Kelly said he ranked Carlton alongside defending premiers Collingwood as the biggest threats to the Cats who have compiled an 8-0 record under first-year coach Scott.

"Carlton have the best pressure. They really were all over us last night," Kelly said.

"We were happy to get the win but still dodged a bullet.

"We were always pretty confident that we were going to be able to win a lot of games.

"Whether we actually thought we would come out eight and zip, I don't know.

"We probably would have said no."

Scott admitted the Cats were lucky to keep their unbeaten record intact with a tense win over the Blues in a match was played with a finals-like intensity in front of 48,429 fans.

Carlton ruckman Robbie Warnock missed a close-range shot at goal with 77 seconds remaining.

Debutant key forward Nathan Vardy scored only one behind but Scott said he was keen to keep the 19-year-old in the side.

"Big guys take a long time to develop. We're not expecting miracles," Scott said.

"We might have some players over the next couple of weeks who have been carrying a few minor injuries that we might look to take out.

"(Ruckman) Brad Ottens springs to mind."

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