Watch the Luke McPharlin’s tackle on YouTube.

Matthew Pavlich has described Luke McPharlin, who plays his 200th AFL game this Saturday night, as a person who lives his life under a strong set of family values.

And the Freo skipper said McPharlin’s football flowed on from his lifestyle.

“He’s a really strong character and he believes in living a certain way, which probably assists his football as well,” Pavlich said.

“As a footballer, his qualities are that he’s really reliable and dependable. He’s had the ability to play defence against the best forwards in the competition and beat them, as well as the ability to slip forward every now and then and be a player who can pinch a goal.

“Overall, both as a person and as a footballer, he’s someone who has real character.”

Pavlich said, apart from the numerous big marks his teammate had taken throughout his career, one particular moment stood out to him as the most memorable of McPharlin’s career.

“It was in 2005, when Luke was playing up forward,” Pavlich said.

“It was when Justin Longmuir got the goal after the siren to win the game.

“The person that kicked it to Justin was Luke. He chased down a St Kilda player.

“If you go back and watch the footage it was a pretty special chase down in the last minute of the game. He kicked it in and allowed Justin to be the hero.”

Pavlich (pick 4) and McPharlin (10) were both taken in the 1999 National Draft, although they didn’t become teammates until 2002 when McPharlin joined Freo from Hawthorn.

With Pavlich playing mainly as a forward and McPharlin as a defender, the pair have had their fair share of one-on-one contests at training over the years.

“You know that you’re going to be in for a tough few minutes when you’re up against Luke,” Pavlich said.

“He’s got really good closing speed and he doesn’t allow you to position your body where you like.

“He doesn’t appear to be overly strong, but he has really good strength for his size. He uses his body extremely well.

“Luke’s right up there with some of the better defenders that I‘ve played against.”

McPharlin has been a rock in Freo’s defence in recent seasons, standing the opposition’s best forward on a weekly basis.

Pavlich said he probably wasn’t the only forward who rated McPharlin highly as a defender.

“Players like Nick Riewoldt, Jonathon Brown, Jack Riewoldt, Brendan Fevola and Lance Franklin, guys that Luke’s played on many times,” Pavlich said.

“Luke’s done some great jobs on those players and I would dare say that they hold him in very high regard.”

CLICK HERE FOR LUKE'S THOUGHTS ON HIS 200th