Max Gawn on RSN (17/3/20)

[Demonland 72,230]

Melbourne players are unanimous in their commitment to playing Round 1 this weekend.

Captain Max Gawn revealed this morning his teammates voted in favour of kicking off the season as planned during last night's historic phone hook-up and survey with the AFL Players' Association.

The players voted in favour of starting the season on Thursday night.

While players are concerned about the health and safety of their peers and the community, they understand the position and the importance of the football season to the lives of many.

"From all reports, all 45 guys that we have obviously have health concerns but are understanding that footy is the answer at the moment," Gawn said.

"So Round 1, we want to go ahead and that's what I expressed to the PA (AFL Players' Association) yesterday.

"There's no one holding back from a Melbourne point of view because we've got a dream start. We get to go to Perth to play West Coast who are one of the better teams in the comp and I think Perth are lower down on the coronavirus cases at the moment, so it might be safer over there and they also have no crowds, which I mean, I think that's an interesting case because Optus (Stadium) is absolutely booming with the crowds, so it'd be quite unprecedented."

The AFL is yet to make a final decision, however, on whether Thursday night's Richmond-Carlton season opener will go ahead.

But Gawn said he's confident matches will be played as planned.

"Yeah that's how I thought it'd happen. Anything can change, I understand that, and to be honest I didn't love Gil's (Gillon McLachlan) press conference where he didn't seem as confident about Round 1 as he has in the past," he told RSN 927.

The matter of taking a pay cut to help ease the financial strain on the game caused by the coronavirus crisis is less clear.

There are some concerns over how a mooted 20 per cent pay cut will affect younger players on smaller salaries.

But a jovial Gawn has a solution for his club.

"What we're going to do is we're going to corner Steven May and Jake Lever and just obviously show them the amount of games they've played because they've got their money and hope they'll be able to help out a few of the younger boys," he joked.

"That's what we're going to do."

On a more serious note, he said: "I don't think the AFL players have necessarily agreed to a pay cut yet, which is the vibe I was getting, but I understand it'll be all hands on deck if we do lose some money here."

[sue 9,107]

Well that comment about May and Lever should satisfy some of their relentless critics on here.  I'm looking forward to years of entertainment from Max.

[Cards13 9,117]

Yea ouch Maxi!!!! 

[Watts the matter 1,235]

1 hour ago, sue said:

Well that comment about May and Lever should satisfy some of their relentless critics on here.  I'm looking forward to years of entertainment from Max.

Love it!