MELBOURNE is planning for Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett to line-up in Saturday’s clash at the MCG.

Coach Paul Roos told a media conference at AAMI Park on Monday that Melbourne was preparing for the superstar to take his place against the Demons.

Ablett has not played since injuring his shoulder against Collingwood in round 16 last year.

When asked what he was hearing about Ablett, Roos said dryly: “I’ve heard he’s a good player – I’ve heard that for a while – and I probably tend to agree with that.”

“You don’t know anyone’s medical department, but you’d expect him to play, because he can play deep forward as well and he can kick goals,” he said.

“We’ll prepare for him to play … because he’s such a good player and then wait and see what happens.”

Roos said Ablett could make a impact “anywhere” on the ground.

“He could play deep forward because he’s such a talented player, so you’d prepare for both – the fact that he might play forward and maybe a little bit less through the mid,” he said.

“It is hard to play big, big minutes when you haven’t played a lot of game time, but he’s been around footy for a long period of time.

“He generally has a bloke hanging onto him, so he doesn’t have to worry too much about running defensively.

“I suspect if he plays, he’s going to be a very dangerous player for them.”