By Ben Collins

GOLD COAST coach Guy McKenna has defended his use of Gary Ablett in the back half, and also hinted he would continue to experiment with his skipper outside the centre square to accelerate the development of the Suns' young midfielders.

To the surprise of many, Ablett spent much of the night in the back half during the Suns' 38-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Darwin's TIO Stadium on Saturday night.

The 2010 Brownlow medallist still managed equal game-high tallies of possessions (29 – way down on his pre-match season average of 38.6) and tackles (nine), but precious little of his work was done in the midfield.

Ablett ran forward in the opening minute of the match and launched a long ball that sailed through for a behind, but he was rarely sighted forward of centre for the rest of the first half.

He was subjected to a heavy tag from specialist stopper Liam Picken, who also received welcome assistance from his teammates, who also niggled the superstar any chance they got.

It was the inevitability of this match-up that prompted McKenna's change of plan for his skipper, who he said had played "a selfless role".

"We obviously knew that Picken was going to go to him. We always end up following the opposition (in relation to Ablett's opponent) and they always end up dumping their forward line, so we got a bit of our own back," he said.

"The first half we thought that worked really well – we had 50 possessions more than the Doggies, so we were actually winning it and moving it forward."

The plan changed after half-time, with the Suns deciding to use Ablett on the ball more to give them a better chance of kicking a winning score.

"But they arrested the possessions and late in the third quarter we put him behind the ball again to see if we could stop the bleeding a bit," he said.

The Suns will no doubt continue to experiment with Ablett at either end to fast-track the progress of their youth.

When Ablett was out for two games with a knee problem, the youngsters stepped up in the midfield and McKenna liked what he saw. As he did for much of Saturday night.

"The weeks he'd been out I think the boys had grown, and I thought today again they still took a step forward with him (not in) the centre," he said.

The Suns had also made progress in the hardness department after being roundly labeled soft following their shock loss to Greater Western Sydney last week.

Against the Bulldogs, a hardball side, they performed admirably in the contested possession count, losing by just seven (159-152).

"The boys certainly stuck their head over the ball (and) I certainly can’t fault their effort," McKenna said.

"If they compete like they did today, they'll give themselves a chance to win next week, the week after, and for the rest of the season."