Gary Ablett says he is ready for anything Collingwood tagger Brent Macaffer has in store for him when the Magpies visit Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley flagged his intention to put his No.1 stopper on the Gold Coast captain at a press conference on Tuesday, and Ablett returned fire saying he would be waiting.

In his past two matches against the Magpies, Ablett has run riot, racking up an astonishing 53 (2012) and 49 (2013) disposals as he ran around unchecked.

In the corresponding match last season, he also added two goals and three Brownlow Medal votes to propel the upstart SUNS to a surprise seven-point victory.

Buckley admitted he erred in not tagging Ablett, and would not make the same mistake in Saturday's top-eight shaping contest.

Ablett said he would be "ready to go" and would do his own homework on Macaffer.

"You look at different players' strengths and weaknesses and there's no doubt I'll be going through the tapes this week," Ablett said.

"He's done some great jobs this year on some really, really good players. There's no doubt it's going to be tough out there."

In round 10 against the Western Bulldogs, Ablett was the centre of some controversy when he escaped suspension after throwing his elbow back towards tight-checking Liam Picken.

Following that match – in which Ablett received five free kicks after a number of off-the-ball incidents – SUNS coach Guy McKenna went to the AFL umpire's department to seek clarification on a number of issues.

Ablett said he had noticed a slight change in umpiring since then.

"I think there's definitely been a change," he said.

"I think the umpires have been looking out for them, there's no doubt about that.

"They've got to be looking at every single contest. To have to be looking behind the play, it is a tough job for them, they're going to miss some sometimes.

"It's not just me that puts up with it. It's part of the game. You learn to put up with that and you go out and do your best and do your part for the team."

Ablett said the SUNS had learnt a lot from Saturday's heavy loss to Hawthorn and was confident they could adapt for the remainder of the season.

"It's a big eight weeks coming up for us, there's a big part of the season to go and we've got to make sure we keep improving, and if we win enough of those games we'll play finals footy," he said.