In his exclusive column with the Gold Coast Bulletin, Gary Ablett opens up about the extra on-field attention elite midfielders receive on a weekly basis, and the thrill of playing in front of the club’s third biggest crowd at Metricon Stadium on Sunday.

Much has been said and written lately over the contentious issue of taggers in the game.

I’ll be straight to the point here and say that even though specialist taggers can be absolutely frustrating at times they’re part and parcel of the game. At the end of the day taggers have a role to play. I was fortunate enough to play with Cameron Ling, and more often than not, he played that role when I was with Geelong.

Lingy was the ultimate team player and someone who I respected so much and that's why I understand how important an elite tagger can be on your team.

For players receiving the extra treatment it's important to learn how to deal with it.

A lot of great players have had to deal with taggers over the years.

Most teams these days will have a shut-down player in their side. They’re doing the job asked of them and I have learnt to live with it.

Even though my dad Gary Sr was predominantly a forward, he used to get special treatment from the opposition at times.

I have been told that one day at Kardinia Park Fox Sports footy commentator Matthew Campbell played a tagging role on him.

Apparently Dad kicked six goals playing as a wing and half-forward yet Matty was named among the best players for the Brisbane Bears.

It was such a good feeling running out on to Metricon Stadium on Sunday to be greeted by the third-biggest crowd we have had at our home base.

Getting such a reception does wonders for a player’s mindset knowing the support is there in such good numbers willing us to get home.

Unfortunately we didn’t but I rate Sydney, at this stage of the season, as the best team in the competition.

We’re not far off the pace at all so I encourage will the fans to be patient.

How far are we away from the top sides like Sydney, Hawthorn, Fremantle and Geelong?

It’s hard to say but there are areas we still need to improve on, especially playing four consistent quarters.

But we know we’re improving and we’re playing a great style of footy and we want to continue to draw big crowds to watch us get to the stage where we can beat the likes of Sydney and Hawthorn.

We all know we are capable of doing that.

During the pre-season we had a real focus on the defensive side of our game, just getting that right.

If you look at the last seven or so premiership teams, at season’s end they had been in top three ranked defensive sides.

We had a real focus on improving that side of the game and we’ve improved a heap there and for us it is just getting those things right in the offensive side, not missing basic skills, hitting targets.

We need to be predictable to each other, knowing when somebody is going to kick it long or kick it short.

When we become more predictable to each other it is going to make things a lot easier.