MIDFIELDER Jordie McKenzie says his negating effort on Gold Coast superstar Gary Ablett at Metricon Stadium last Saturday night was one of his best AFL performances.

Although the Demons went down by 13 points, McKenzie’s effort was outstanding.

He returned to the side last round, after being sidelined for four weeks with an elbow and groin injury. McKenzie then came back via the VFL, playing four matches for Casey, before gaining his opportunity against the Suns.

And he didn’t disappoint.

“Purely, from a tagging point of view, it was probably one of my better ones. I’m not sure if it was my best or not. It was one of my better ones,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Personally, it was a good challenge to play on Ablett. It was a good opportunity to come in and test yourself against one of the better players in the comp and a hard one to combat.

“It was good to get out there. We had a plan when he went forward as well, with blokes like Col Garland playing a tight role on him as well. We were able to probably minimise the impact to what he’d normally have most weeks.”

McKenzie restricted Ablett to just 19 disposals – his lowest total at the Suns, aside from when he claimed three touches against the Sydney Swans and then injured his knee in round 16, 2011. For the record, the Demon leader had 16 disposals.

“It was a good challenge. I’ve played on him a little bit in the past, but not that much and not for a full game anyway,” McKenzie said.

“It was good to get that role whenever he was in the midfield. He’s very slippery around stoppages, so the boys had their work cut out and as a team we played against him well. When he got away from me, the boys helped me out.

“We had our chances to win, but we couldn’t capitalise and it was a frustrating day in the end.”

Fellow leader Colin Garland, who along with defender Mitch Clisby, also assisted on Ablett, heaped praise on McKenzie post-match.

McKenzie said he was rapt with Garland’s comments about his performance.

“You’re always happy when blokes give you compliments, especially your teammates, because you want to earn and gain their trust and respect,” he said.

“To get a pat on the back from a bloke like Garlo, who has had a great year, is pretty good. But in the end, it would’ve been good to have an OK individual performance and get the win instead.

“They’re the ones you really want to play for and really do everything you can for. There were some positives out of it, but overall, it was a pretty disappointing night.”