CONSIDERED one of the best taggers in the competition, North Melbourne's Brady Rawlings never shirks a challenge but admits an opponent may just be beyond his grasp.

And the message received during Friday night's game was similar.

Star Cat Gary Ablett produced one of the best individual performances seen in recent years – collecting 39 possessions in Geelong's 13-point win over the Roos.

Fourteen of those came in the first quarter, orchestrating most of his side's seven goals, and Rawlings moved to replace youngster Ed Lower in the stopping role.

Though the brakes worked initially, Ablett's influence prevailed.

"He's right up there amongst the best that I've ever played on," Rawlings said. "It was a pretty tough gig going to him after he'd already had a great start and he continued on from there. No matter where he was, whether it was in the midfield or if he went forward, he just dominated.

"I probably rated (Chris) Judd as the best I played on and Gary Ablett nearly took over him on the weekend. His ability to shake tackles and to keep running all night, his explosiveness and kicking goals probably rates him up there as one of the best ... one of the best midfielders I've played on, for sure."

Rawlings also confirmed that North players were eventually given the message not to tackle Ablett, because their efforts were ineffective and the extra attention only freed up another Cat.

"That instruction did come out to us," he said. "I've never heard that one before because we've probably never had anyone who could do that before.

"A couple of times he shrugged three of us at one time. He's got amazing strength and it's probably the strength through the hips that makes him so good. We just couldn't get near him so it's probably one of the best games you'll probably ever see."

The Roos surprised many pundits with how far they pushed the premier, however, no-one within the club considers the loss honourable.

Victory, which looked possible on occasions, would have given the Roos a handy buffer on ninth-placed St Kilda and 10th-placed Carlton.

"We thought we had opportunities to win the game, so honourable losses don't sit well with us," Rawlings said. "We want to win every week, we've had a pretty tough run and you've got to win those games when they're tight, especially in the position we're sitting in.

"We're sitting eighth on the ladder ... it's the halfway point of the year and it's going to be pretty tight for the rest of the year.

"Those tight games you've got to win and that's what's probably going to make it finals or not."