Fowler has been the centre of attention in the lead-up to Sunday's clash between Wellington and  North Queensland Fury but the hosts are working on ensuring he gets no opportunities to be the centre of attention on the playing field.
 
Fowler, one of football's greatest ever strikers, has been in superb form for Fury, having nailed four goals, including last weekend's divine winner against Sydney FC.
 
Phoenix, meanwhile, have their own in-form English strike force in Paul Ifill and Chris Greenacre and a special record they want to maintain, an unbeaten run of eight games at Westpac Stadium stretching back to October last year.
 
Phoenix assistant coach Jonathan Gould who, along with Ifill, has played against Fowler in the past, said the key to limiting the impact of the 34-year-old star striker would be to deny him possession.
 
"It's the same approach you take with any striker, if you starve them of supply they're not going to get opportunities. The difference with Robbie is that he can create something out of nothing. You only have to look at the last two goals he scored. It was a deft touch against the Roar and then he hit one from 30 yards against Sydney," said Gould. "That's where, as a defender, you can't afford to switch off at any moment.

"As a defender when you play against someone like him you look forward to that challenge and hopefully our back four will see the threat he poses and rise to that challenge. If we stop Robbie from scoring we've got a great chance of winning the game."
 
The other threat would come from putting too much emphasis on shutting down Fowler and ignoring the danger posed by the Fury's other key men.
 
"How far the Fury have come in the past four or five weeks is a real credit to their coach, Ian Ferguson," said Gould. "They work incredibly hard and they've got players all over the pitch who have got something to prove."
 
Phoenix will be without Jon McKain on Sunday, the classy defender suffering a quadriceps tear late in the 1-1 draw away to Melbourne Victory. However, New Zealand international centre back Ben Sigmund returns to the squad after recovering from a hip knock picked up during New Zealand's international friendly win against Jordan before the Victory match.
  
Gould said the drive now was to convert dominance into wins.
 
"You hear about 'conversion rates' in rugby all the time and that's what we're after now. We've now got to turn the one-point draws into three-point wins. If you can go away and get points on the road like we have done then they don't become 'good' points until you regularly extend that to three points at home.
 
"We had 14 opportunities on goal against Melbourne. If we create that many at home against the Fury this weekend and we convert a few there's every chance we can run away with the game. We need to show the same tenacity in the tackle we showed against Melbourne, the same work rate, and we have to exploit our chances and be clinical at the other end.
 
"If we put all that together we'll be fine," he said.
 
For the record, former Coventry goalkeeper Gould played against Liverpool's Fowler in the English Premier League. He was also between the sticks for Celtic in UEFA and Champions League matches against Fowler's Reds.
 
Gould added: "Robbie never scored past me. He's one of the few that haven't!"