Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley wants David to focus entirely on how well he wields his slingshot and ignore the significant threat posed by Goliath.
The misfiring Magpies will come off a five-day break for Sunday's AFL match against Geelong at the MCG.
While Collingwood are in early-season trouble at 1-4, the Cats are unbeaten.
But Buckley says the focus this week has been on how they can improve, not how to stop Geelong.
"It's a bit of a David v Goliath match-up, isn't it, as people would see it from the outside," Buckley said.
"It doesn't really matter who we play against this week - we happen to play a side that's 5-0.
"But the biggest challenge is actually internal for us."
Buckley said after last Tuesday's' Anzac Day loss to Essendon that they are not far off, but also a mile off.
While their biggest losing margin is only 19 points, their attack so far is not working and they are the league's most inaccurate team when kicking for goal.
Still, the Magpies are upbeat, with captain Scott Pendlebury saying earlier in the week that the short break could work for them.
Cats coach Chris Scott is wary of what Collingwood could produce.
"We can't make it a game of their fast start versus our fast finish," he said.
"We;ve got to make sure that we are up for the contest early and we expect it to be pretty fierce.
"They are coming off a short break, but if you reference some of the things their players have said, they're keen to get back out there and improve on the performance of last Tuesday."
Inevitably, Buckley was asked about the ever-present Geelong threat of midfield stars Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield.
He hinted that Levi Greenwood could be dispatched to either player in a tagging role.
"Philosophically, we believe our midfield can match any other midfield, but there are always elements of either defence or run-with," Buckley said.
"Levi, we'll see in the forward line mostly and he'll spend some time in the midfield.
"It's pretty hard to quell those guys, but it's a matchup that's worked in the past."
By contrast, Collingwood's top midfielder Pendlebury had a shocker on Anzac Day and he said it was his worst game in a decade.
Again, Scott is only worried about how Pendlebury and his teammates play on Sunday.
"You listen to it. You would be crazy to ignore all of that stuff but I don't really believe in the idea that because you play poorly or well the week before that it has that much influence on the following week," Scott said.
"We think that (Collingwood's) natural level is higher than what they've shown so far this year."
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