Gold Coast United defender Michael Thwaite says he is ready for the challenge of marking North Queensland Fury striker Robbie Fowler.

United will meet the Fury at Skilled Park this Saturday evening and the former Melbourne Victory stopper has been entrusted with the job on the ex-Liverpool goal scorer.

Despite the fact Fowler is such a threat, Thwaite says he won't be treating any differently that a normal opponent.

"We won't be holding back on him because he's still a great player who has great instincts and is mentally a lot quicker than the younger players around him," said Thwaite.

"But we won't be picking him out or targeting him either. We're more worried about how we'll perform. We know we have a lot to improve on.

"Obviously a lot of people will want to come and see him ... my job is to make sure he doesn't have a big impact on the match."