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2020 Player Reviews: #11 Max Gawn

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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Posted

2020 Player Reviews: #11 Max Gawn

The skipper and premier ruckman of the competition was heading for a top five Brownlow finish before missing vital games through injury in mid-season. He battled on through the latter part of the season and led his team admirably right through to the end that saw them narrowly miss the finals.

Date of Birth: 30 December, 1991

Height: 208cm

Weight: 109kg

Games MFC 2020: 14

Career Total: 134

Goals MFC 2020: 1

Career Total: 59

Votes 2020 Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Memorial Trophy: 234 (sixth) season

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    • Like 1
     

      Four time AA, unheard of for this club.    Best ruckman in the history of the MFC. 

    Hes got a few years of dominant footy left too...   still time for a flag.  Cherish him while hes still running around.

     

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    • Like 5

    I love "le Max" what a Player and what a great humble human being to boot, I am really looking forward to getting back to the "G" to see the great man in person. I would love him to win a Norm Smith Medal.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    • Like 2
    • Love 1
     

    Unquestionably the best ruckman in the competition and a great leader and ambassador for the club, but our lack of success over his career confirms that there is almost zero correlation between being an elite ruckman and being part of a successful team.

    I'm not saying I'd actively try and trade Max, but I'm not sure that I'd stand in his way either if he wanted out at some stage and we had the opportunity to add a top CHF or CHB to the list.

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    30 minutes ago, poita said:

    Unquestionably the best ruckman in the competition and a great leader and ambassador for the club, but our lack of success over his career confirms that there is almost zero correlation between being an elite ruckman and being part of a successful team.

    I'm not saying I'd actively try and trade Max, but I'm not sure that I'd stand in his way either if he wanted out at some stage and we had the opportunity to add a top CHF or CHB to the list.

    Being an AA ruckman is a great achievement but in reality how many players is he competing with...6-8 I suspect at most.

    A wonderful team player but we have not been able to leverage his dominance and many teams now have strong plans to negate him.

    The future ruckman if there is such a thing is the likes of Nicnat and Luke Jackson save that the position is perhaps too damaging to risk elite talent.

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    Not his best year but still better than all but a handful of footballers could ever manage.

    I'm immensely looking forward to the development of Jackson and the presence of Brown meaning that the burden of being the long bomb relief target is shared around a bit more.  Gawn being free to use his fitness more aggressively will add an impossible-to-plan-for component to our attack.  He was never going to get to burn off opposition ruckmen with the rules the way they were in 2020 and with the limited tall support, but 2021 could be a very different scene.

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    • Like 2

    He is our best player.

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    • Like 5

    Gawn is a genuine champion of the game. Bar the Brownlow and a flag, he has won everything there is to win. He's also showing great promise as Captain - a player respected right across the entire competition. Well done on another great season Max, played under great duress.

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    • Like 4
     

    Jim Stynes will be proud of the lad.?

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    • Like 4

    While Maxy is still playing and in my view the best at his trade then we are a chance to go all the way.  Hopefully real soon..

    Max is a leader of men and leads by example the kind of leader that bleeds for our great jumper.

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    • Like 3

    10 minutes ago, Kent said:

    I don't understand playing injured players 

    Its no excuse

    Burgess knows what he's doing and Maxy says himself in the article he feels no lingering ill effects.

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    • Like 2

    With regards to his earlier back issue I would have liked to see AVB and anyone else in the vicinity square off with all the cowards that went out of their way to hit Max off the ball, I don't like seeing players targeted off the ball at any time but some of the stuff that went on under the opposing coaches direction was ridiculous and sickening,.

    How come when there are three Umpires out on the ground no one takes any action. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.!!!!!!

    Edited by DeeZone
    my comments were out of step with the thread.

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    • Like 2

    On 11/17/2020 at 10:52 AM, Pickett2Jackson said:

      Four time AA, unheard of for this club.    Best ruckman in the history of the MFC. 

    Hes got a few years of dominant footy left too...   still time for a flag.  Cherish him while hes still running around.

     

    Jim Stynes was the best ruckman we're ever had and arguably in the history of the AFL

    Redefined the ruck role to one of mobility and getting around the ground. There would have been no Dean Cox or Brody Grundy types if it wasnt for Jim Stynes.  

    Won a brownlow, 2AA and 4 bnf’s. 244 consecutive games is testament to a granite will and extraordinary pain threshold. His durability and hardness is legend.

    Not to mention everything he did off the field.

    I love Maxy but he’s no Jim Stynes.

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    • Like 1

    And we really have to come up with some alternative options with our kick-outs. Surely the brains trust can come up with some ideas.

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    • Like 1
    4 hours ago, Better days ahead said:

    Jim Stynes was the best ruckman we're ever had and arguably in the history of the AFL

    Redefined the ruck role to one of mobility and getting around the ground. There would have been no Dean Cox or Brody Grundy types if it wasnt for Jim Stynes.  

    Won a brownlow, 2AA and 4 bnf’s. 244 consecutive games is testament to a granite will and extraordinary pain threshold. His durability and hardness is legend.

    Not to mention everything he did off the field.

    I love Maxy but he’s no Jim Stynes.

     

    Maxy has Jimmy well and truly covered.  Max is dominant, a legitimate superstar.

    Jimmy was never really a top 10 player except for one season (1991).

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    • Like 1
    30 minutes ago, Pickett2Jackson said:

     

    Maxy has Jimmy well and truly covered.  Max is dominant, a legitimate superstar.

    Jimmy was never really a top 10 player except for one season (1991).

    Let’s agree to disagree. Both great players.

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    • Like 2

    i'll plump for jim over max too

    it's easy to forget he only started actually playing the code at 19 years old in 1986 before becoming a key part of our return to finals

    max is the best ruckman of his era tho

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