MELBOURNE should send former teammate Bernie Vince to Brownlow favourite Rory Sloane this weekend in an effort to quell his influence, according to Nick Dal Santo.

Sloane moved into favouritism for the Brownlow after a superb start to the season in which he averaged a staggering 143.4 Champion Data ranking points across a blistering five-week period.

However, when heavily tagged by North Melbourne’s Sam Gibson in a Round 7 defeat, Sloane had only 18 disposals and 80 ranking points — well down on his season average.

It’s led to suggestions Melbourne should employ similar tactics when coming up against Adelaide this weekend, with Dal Santo pinpointing the perfect man to go to Sloane.

Round 18

Vince tagged fellow former teammate Patrick Dangerfield when Melbourne faced Adelaide in April 2015, holding the star midfielder to only 16 disposals in a 25-point loss.

His physical approach led to some criticism in the aftermath of the game, but Dal Santo believes it is worth Vince doing similar to Sloane when they meet on Saturday night.

“Bernie did it against Dangerfield,” Dal Santo told Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“He got highly criticised because he was a bit scrappy and he was all over Dangerfield and it didn’t look pretty.

LIVE stream every game of every round of the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership Season on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week FOXTEL PLAY trial and start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >>

Vince was criticised for his tagging role on Dangerfield in 2015. Source: Getty Images

“But I loved it. I thought it was a different side of Bernie that we haven’t seen before. I love the way he goes about it when he has the footy, but I’d love to see him be a niggler this week.

“To go against Rory Sloane — I think they’re really good mates and they might even own a pub together — I’d love to see them go head-to-head and say ‘show us what you’ve got’.”

Vince and Sloane were teammates at Adelaide for five years between 2009 and 2013, but Dal Santo believes they must face off this weekend if the Demons are to stand a chance.

“We’ve been complementing (Sloane) — he’s my favourite player in the league, I just love him — he’s a super player,” Dal Santo said.

“I think he brings more to that team than just possessions. He’s all encompassing. He does all of the hard stuff and the inspirational stuff.

“(But) Sam Gibson went to him last week and kept him to 18 disposals.

“He’d been averaging around 30 leading into that game, so that’s at least shown the Dees a blueprint that if you send someone to him, you can quiet him down.”