Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge concedes the presence of Ash Hansen in the opposition box will give Carlton a small advantage on Thursday night.
Hansen spent nine years at Whitten Oval, including seven of those as an assistant to Beveridge, before joining a new-look Carlton coaching panel as senior assistant to Michael Voss.
By coincidence, Hansen will step into the hot seat for the first time against Beveridge at Marvel Stadium, with Voss out of action through health and safety protocols.
"Ash did a great job with us and was a great support for me over his time here," Beveridge said.
"He had lots of different roles here, coached our Footscray VFL team to a flag in 2016, and is a great pick-up for the Blues.
"It's kind of ironic that Ash is going to have the reins and my form against stand-in coaches isn't too good.
"Jaymie Graham got me a couple of years ago when Simmo (regular West Coast coach Adam Simpson) was over looking after the kids in WA.
"Hopefully that doesn't repeat itself."
Beveridge said some aspects of the Bulldogs' approach had changed since Hansen's departure but admitted the former West Coast key forward would be able to provide important insights for Carlton.
"Definitely their understanding of some of our systems and the inner sanctum stuff is hard to get knowledge of," Beveridge said.
"There are some things that haven't changed but we continue to evolve.
"Even the game plan week to week is not static, so there's some different things, but I think it will help them a little bit."
Hansen said Beveridge had a big influence on his own coaching career and is looking forward to locking horns with his former mentor, as well as the players he helped tutor.
"I certainly know what they're capable of and I've seen that first hand," Hansen said.
"They're a really talented group and last week (against Melbourne) we saw in patches what they were able to do, kicking eight goals straight in one patch, and kicking three from centre bounce, which is a strength of theirs.
"There's certainly areas of their game that we'll really respect and that I'm acutely aware of.
"We'll empower our guys to play our brand and go out and match it with them."
