The Big Story - Max Gawn in 2016

[Whispering_Jack 27,976]

Surely Max is one of the big stories of 2016 for the Melbourne Football Club?

With his knee reconstructions and other injuries, it took him a long time to become an overnight sensation but that's exactly what he became in 2016. 

Of course, I could be biased because I happen to be one of his sponsors and have been from the very get go after he was drafted. I even went out to Casey Fields to watch him play in his first game on comeback from his first ACL sustained in a TAC Cup game in 2009.  Here's my picture as proof:- 

He's come a long way since then culminating in selection as 2016 All Australian ruckman and becoming a very popular and polished media personality to boot.

Not many people know about his coaching prowess but I can tell you that whilst recovering from injury, Max took up coaching and during 2014 and 2015 he co-coached Ormond's Under 16 and 17s where he had under his wing a young convert from basketball in Lachlan Filipovic who moved on to the Sandy Dragons this year and was drafted as a rookie to Melbourne last Monday. Max also did some ruck coaching with him whilst at the Dragons.

I also have a little anecdote about Max's coaching. As his sponsor, I invited him to a training session at my grandson's Under 12 team on the eve of the finals. The coaches were a bit wary at first thinking an AFL player might be a bit of a distraction on the eve of their first finals game but they were gobsmacked when he took over the training drills and ran them like a professional. He had the team and members of some of the other teams training that night, eating out of his hands. The boys won their final easily and needless to say, our ruckmen dominated (unfortunately, the lost narrowly in the grannie). 

Anyway you look at it, Max is a real gem and one of our big stories for 2016.

[beelzebub 22,225]

great story Jack...and yes... a great success is Max.   Didnt happen overnight ...but it did happen !!

 

[Lucifers Hero 37,036]

With the development of his game he got a lot more media exposure.  On Demonland we had heard the odd snippet of his 'prankster' character.  But seeing and hearing his quirky, down to earth, no nonsense humor and personality were a rare beacon in a world of overly engineered and robotic player media interviews. 

No wonder he has become an idol and icon, not just with Dees fans.  I mean how could anyone just not love Max!

Yes, a big story in 2016 and hopefully for many years to come.

[Deeman 1,403]

2 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Surely Max is one of the big stories of 2016 for the Melbourne Football Club?

With his knee reconstructions and other injuries, it took him a long time to become an overnight sensation but that's exactly what he became in 2016. 

Of course, I could be biased because I happen to be one of his sponsors and have been from the very get go after he was drafted. I even went out to Casey Fields to watch him play in his first game on comeback from his first ACL sustained in a TAC Cup game in 2009.  Here's my picture as proof:- 

He's come a long way since then culminating in selection as 2016 All Australian ruckman and becoming a very popular and polished media personality to boot.

Not many people know about his coaching prowess but I can tell you that whilst recovering from injury, Max took up coaching and during 2014 and 2015 he co-coached Ormond's Under 16 and 17s where he had under his wing a young convert from basketball in Lachlan Filipovic who moved on to the Sandy Dragons this year and was drafted as a rookie to Melbourne last Monday. Max also did some ruck coaching with him whilst at the Dragons.

I also have a little anecdote about Max's coaching. As his sponsor, I invited him to a training session at my grandson's Under 12 team on the eve of the finals. The coaches were a bit wary at first thinking an AFL player might be a bit of a distraction on the eve of their first finals game but they were gobsmacked when he took over the training drills and ran them like a professional. He had the team and members of some of the other teams training that night, eating out of his hands. The boys won their final easily and needless to say, our ruckmen dominated (unfortunately, the lost narrowly in the grannie). 

Anyway you look at it, Max is a real gem and one of our big stories for 2016.

Don't tell me #43 for the Scorps was their second ruck?

[monoccular 16,071]

Great story WJ. Thanks for sharing. 

[What 18,810]

He can go to another level, and that is very scary for the rest of the comp.

Nice to have a superstar, finally.   

 

[Diamond_Jim 11,753]

A large part of the key to success in 2017 will be our tactics to take advantage of Gawn's ruck dominance.

He gave great value around the ground but I feel that we did not take advantage of his ruck dominance. I have no idea of what the required tactic(s) might be but if we can master them and Gawn can remain fit nothing is impossible next year.

[FarNorthernD 5,839]

23 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

A large part of the key to success in 2017 will be our tactics to take advantage of Gawn's ruck dominance.

He gave great value around the ground but I feel that we did not take advantage of his ruck dominance. I have no idea of what the required tactic(s) might be but if we can master them and Gawn can remain fit nothing is impossible next year.

There was a bit of advantage taken DJ. Wasn't the Gawn/Viney the No. 1 hit out combo in the league followed by Gawn/Jones and then Gawn/Tyson (I may have made some of that up but whatever the stats they were fairly impressive)?

Max's best games though I thought was when he was clunkinking those big marks around the ground. He can bit be either "on" or not in this regard. 

Imagine if he could consistently lift his performance to near the level of his second half performance against Hawthorn. Clarkson said it was one of the most dominant performances by a ruckman he had ever seen. He was pretty much unstoppable 

[Dees2014 2,377]

38 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

A large part of the key to success in 2017 will be our tactics to take advantage of Gawn's ruck dominance.

He gave great value around the ground but I feel that we did not take advantage of his ruck dominance. I have no idea of what the required tactic(s) might be but if we can master them and Gawn can remain fit nothing is impossible next year.

Great story WJ. I too have been a huge fan of Max from the very beginning, and all the hope for him we all had has been more than fulfilled. 

I do think though that going into 2017 season he is also one of our biggest risks. Not only the obvious one of going down with serious injury, but also when you analyse our diassappointing defeats in 2016 they often coincided with Max having a less than stellar game. He desperately needs backup on the field, and that is why I have constantly advocated playing a second very tall a la Spencer in the Game at Geelong in 2015.

Too much was expected of him in 2016, and although he was a very willing workhorse, he DOES need quality backup. Perhaps Philipovic is that person. If he coached him as a junior, you would have to expected Max would have been consulted In his recruitment and therefore presumably has great confidence in his abilities. Maybe yet another inspired choice by our recruiting staff.  

[tiers 2,769]

The big change in Max's game in 2016 was being able to jump with confidence. Two knee recos can affect this. Watch how he often leapt over packs to take telling marks and reach for hit outs to team mates. For those of us who are old enough to have attended in 1964, the memories of the traits of the greatest ruckmen and tall players over the eras always includes their ability to jump. If you get the chance, watch Nicholls v Farmer from the 60's or Knights v Van Der Haar from the 80's - no pushing and shoving and scragging but pure footy contests displaying skillful positioning, timing and spacial awareness. 

As the second tallest player in the league, Max could leverage his height advantage to make him even more effective and damaging. When he frees himself from the ugly and pointless strength contests and relies more on his height and athletic skills, he will become an even greater joy to watch. Go Max!

[Diamond_Jim 11,753]

24 minutes ago, fndee said:

There was a bit of advantage taken DJ. Wasn't the Gawn/Viney the No. 1 hit out combo in the league followed by Gawn/Jones and then Gawn/Tyson (I may have made some of that up but whatever the stats they were fairly impressive)?

Max's best games though I thought was when he was clunkinking those big marks around the ground. He can bit be either "on" or not in this regard. 

Imagine if he could consistently lift his performance to near the level of his second half performance against Hawthorn. Clarkson said it was one of the most dominant performances by a ruckman he had ever seen. He was pretty much unstoppable 

I saw those stats fndee but perhaps they did not really feed into dominating the clearance stats (I think). For example our top ranked player was Viney ranked 14 in clearances, Jones at 25 and Tyson at 44.

My feeling is that at present the opposition often rove to our mid field at the centre bounce (tackle... close down ) and then we have a secondary ball up.

Could not find rankings for centre clearances or clearances from ball ups. Would be interested to see where we ranked.

Interestingly North Melbourne players with their dominant ruckman were ranked around the same as ours.

Perhaps the ruckman is dead and his worth is measured mainly by his round the ground skills ?

[P-man 13,168]

He's one of the big stories of 2016 for the AFL, not just the MFC. Who was the last cult hero that stretched across the entire league the way he has? 

Max is a rare player in many regards, and he's elevated himself at a perfect time. 

[whatwhat say what 18,937]

17 minutes ago, P-man said:

He's one of the big stories of 2016 for the AFL, not just the MFC. Who was the last cult hero that stretched across the entire league the way he has? 

Max is a rare player in many regards, and he's elevated himself at a perfect time. 

Second only to Bob Murphy I'd say.

[Moonshadow 16,178]

5 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

He can go to another level, and that is very scary for the rest of the comp.

Nice to have a superstar, finally.   

 

If his 2016 goal was to be the no 1 ruck in the comp, what will his 2017+ goal be? Best over the next 5 years?

[Willmoy1947 3,777]

2 hours ago, DemonAndrew said:

Second only to Bob Murphy I'd say.

Bob has got a bit of reco' catching up to do yet, however they are still equal on flags, except team wise we are ahead. Not sure about AA's

[Whispering_Jack 27,976]

Big raps from big Max help a Dragon land at Dees

[deelete my account 1,194]

Big AFL story in 2016

[Demon Disciple 10,940]

What amazes me is that Max hasn't even turned 25 yet 

[Demon Jack 6,279]

Positively frightening what this man could achieve if he stays fit. 

Still only 24...

[Uncle Fester 2,835]

Was at a QB game years back (2012?) but saw young max live for the first time. I said to my Collingwood friend keep an eye on this guy, he's the real deal. She laughed as they piled on goal after goal in the last, but... come 2016... she admitted I'd got it right...

Music to my ears

We grabbed the smokie of that generation. 

Edited December 4, 2016 by Uncle Fester
Typing from phone

[jnrmac 18,967]

Max and the mids need to counter the ruckman that jump into him early. A number tried that tactic quite successfully this year.

[binman 38,076]

Max is a real character with a terrific sense of humour. Often this combination can disguise other, less obvious personality traits.

With Maxy you could miss how driven and competitive he is (DL posters probably don't though). And his garrulousness can disguise a real seriousness.

To this end I found this article really interesting:

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-12-03/big-raps-from-gawn-help-filipovic

I wasn't aware until i read here on DL a few days ago that he was interested in coaching and certainly wasn't aware he had volunteered his time to coach juniors at Ormond. Or for that matter that he started working at Sandringham Dragons.

Given he is still young and it is years before he retires i find it fascinating he has taken on these roles. And well too given what WJ said about his coaching skills at his grandson under 12 training and if the incisive comments in the article are any guide (eg advice on starting and end point at throw ins). Impressive stuff. Fascinating also that he ensured Taylor was aware of his views on Flip

Another thing on his role with Flip. I mentioned that it was great for team morale that two boys from Casey were joining the team. Well how good would it be for a young fella new to the club to have a personal relationship withe one of the most popular blokes at the club. 

 

[In Harmes Way 7,493]

My boy got his young demon membership in the post today. This year, the pack includes a plastic caricature of Maxy (I'd like to pinch this) and some fan cards of the usual suspects including Maxy. Some useful fan facts from the back of the card:

Nickname: Dougy 

if you weren't a footballer, what would you be: Barista

motto that you live your life by: Work like a captain - play like a pirate

items that you would take to a deserted island: Plane, soccer ball, iPod

[einstein251 59]

The AFL doesn't have many characters any more but Max is definitely one of them. A very important member of our list.

[Lucifers Hero 37,036]

Looks like 'Third Man Up' has been deemed illegal.  http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-bans-third-man-up-as-part-of-three-major-rule-changes-while-changing-match-review-panel-assessments/news-story/a251d252e153785041d66f89a557d94d

This will prevent Max being crunched eg the StK game) by a player who had no intention of reaching the ball. 

Methinks this will make Max very happy and he will be even more dangerous when it is one-on-one.