It was his toughest day in the office last season, but don’t expect Melbourne’s controversial tactics from round 20 to haunt Gary Ablett when the captain leads his team out onto the MCG this Sunday. 

What was supposed to be a night to remember as the Gold Coast champion celebrated his 250^th game quickly turned to a match he would put behind him in a hurry. 

As expected, Demons caretaker coach Neil Craig opted to rotate multiple players on Ablett, hardly a surprise given the game’s best player had already demanded tight opposition attention from every other team in the competition leading into the clash at Metricon Stadium.  But the star midfielder was kept unusually quiet in Gold Coast’s seventh win for the season, thanks largely to the scrutinised tactics implemented by the Craig’s midfield group.

Taggers Jordie McKenzie and Colin Garland were both given run-with roles on the Gold Coast captain, performing close-checking defensive pressure on the eventual Brownlow medal winner, both in and away from stoppage work.

The borderline tactics employed by McKenzie and Garland left Ablett and the Gold Coast fans relatively unimpressed, with Ablett’s midfield fleet continually having words with the umpires in between play. 

Pleasingly, the GC SUNS’ rising on-ball division stepped up to the plate, with Harley Bennell (28 disposals), David Swallow (28) and Dion Prestia (23) leading the way.

While Ablett will be the first to dismiss any lingering bad blood between the two sides, expect the AFLPA’s #1 player to come out swinging.

For Demons senior coach Paul Roos, the challenge now is deciding whether to repeat last year’s performance or entrust co-captain Nathan Jones to nullify Ablett, having performed a serviceable job on Marc Murphy on Saturday. 

“We thought Jonesy did an outstanding job on [Marc] Murphy. Every player’s different and every week’s different,” Roos said.

“I think it was great for him, he helped the team. Personally, and not that I’ve seen every one of his games – I thought it was the best game he’s played for the football club. It’s certainly the most significant, I believe.

“This week’s a different week and we’ll have a look at the team and we’ll have a look at what they do well and what we want to do. Certainly, you’ve got to put some attention into Gary – he’s a terrific player - but they’ve also got [Dion] Prestia, [David] Swallow and [Jaeger] O’Meara – their midfield is really starting to develop into an elite midfield group.

“It’s going to be as much about midfield group versus midfield group, as it will be Gary versus whoever his direct opponent is.”