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Will Max Gawn ever be recognised as the best player in the league?

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Max is a quadruple threat and plays with the weight of expectation, welcomes it and delivers under the greatest scrutiny.

As a Ruck - preeminent, wears the hits and cheap shots, is a very fair player.

As a Defender - saves us time and again with contested marks under the fiercest pressure.

As a Forward - Decided to become Neitz with his 50m goals, not above a snap. 2021 r23+PF will live in my memory for ever.

As a Rover - Ridiculous running capacity, not afraid to chase even when he knows there is no chance he just goes. 

And then there are the extras:

Leadership in spades makes others better, best sort of leader (Loved reading everyone's comments). Humble, always looking to improve has gone and developed his goal kicking after 10+ years in the game.  

But this has been seen by everyone, Mitchell I think was cribbing from Clarksons notes (remember that game when Max smashed the Hawks, so in answer( like others) yes the whole comp sees Max as the greatest at this time.

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    41 minutes ago, Big Col said:

    I've often thought that a better way to rank players would be to (simulate a) draft for an all-stars game.

    Each team coach/selector take turns in selecting players for their team until they have 23. In such a scenario, wouldn't you pick Max at #1?  There are enough champion midfielders that if you didn't get Oliver, you got Cripps or Neale or Wines or Petracca or  Martin or Fyfe etc

    The competition for selection would come over specialist positions rather than midfielders. Langdon would picked early, as would May. 

     

    happy to play if you wanna set it up 😈

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    3 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

    happy to play if you wanna set it up 😈

    yeah... that's a good one. Hmmm... How would we do it? Perhaps as below ...

    • We select 2 'captains' (ie Demonlanders) to start the draft with pick one random and start a new thread.
    • In between picks, Demonlanders comment their opinion until the Captain makes his/her decision when we update the team sheet.
    • I'm thinking we're picking teams to play eachother the week after the grand final - giving enough time for injury recovery, but open to opinions about that.

    Instead of alternate picks, it might be fairer to give 2 picks at a time except for pick 1. ie first captain has pick #1, the next has picks #2 and #3. Then the first captain has #4 and #5 and so on.

    Your thoughts?

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    10 hours ago, Baghdad Bob said:

    Simon Madden and Dean Cox were the two best genuine rucks I’ve seen in my life. Maxy is now well in the conversation, ahead of Cox for me and perhaps Madden, but comparing players of such different vintages is very difficult. 

    Max is better than both I reckon. Easily.

    Madden was a benefactor of Roger Merrett assaulting the oppos number 1 ruck every week.

    Max is the most consistent and impactful ruck of the last 50 years. I didn't see Polly Farmer but from all accounts he was generational and played the game like a puppeteer , a bit like Max 

    Edited by Wizard of Koz

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    What makes his rise even more fascinating is how far back he’s come from. If we went back to 2014 on this forum, no one could have predicted he would lead us to our first premiership and be considered one of the greatest ruckmen of our time. It’s just a wonderful story. 

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    My personal opinion on Max is he's going to retire as Melbournes greatest ever player, and probably the greatest ever ruckman full stop. 

    looks likely to finish with 8-9 All Australians, probably 1-4 as AA captain, could definitely win a brownlow, probably multiple premiership captain. 

     

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    • Like 3
    10 hours ago, djr said:

    Champion Data doesn't even classify him as elite

    Jeremy Finlayson was classified as elite at the beginning of the season 🤦‍♂️

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    • Haha 1
     
    16 hours ago, DEE fence said:

    Max is a quadruple threat and plays with the weight of expectation, welcomes it and delivers under the greatest scrutiny.

    As a Ruck - preeminent, wears the hits and cheap shots, is a very fair player.

    As a Defender - saves us time and again with contested marks under the fiercest pressure.

    As a Forward - Decided to become Neitz with his 50m goals, not above a snap. 2021 r23+PF will live in my memory for ever.

    As a Rover - Ridiculous running capacity, not afraid to chase even when he knows there is no chance he just goes. 

    And then there are the extras:

    Leadership in spades makes others better, best sort of leader (Loved reading everyone's comments). Humble, always looking to improve has gone and developed his goal kicking after 10+ years in the game.  

    But this has been seen by everyone, Mitchell I think was cribbing from Clarksons notes (remember that game when Max smashed the Hawks, so in answer( like others) yes the whole comp sees Max as the greatest at this time.

    +1. Certainly the most versatile and capable ruckman and the most impactful leader (r 23 2021 and PF) in my time watching the dees (60+ years).

    Watch him as he acknowledges and encourages the team after every goal and great effort. In one final last year he ran down the ground to high five the defenders whilst we were lining up for goal. That's a leader.

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    Is Gawn the best player in our team though?

    Clarry and Trac must be close

    having said that Gawn 100% should be considered top 3 in the league. Reckon Clarry is number 1 though

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    And how do we rate Stynes against Gawn.  Jim was recognised as the best in the league.

    Is Max as good as Jim?

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    3 hours ago, Jontee said:

    And how do we rate Stynes against Gawn.  Jim was recognised as the best in the league.

    Is Max as good as Jim?

    No disrespect to Jim, but Max is definitely better

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    4 hours ago, Jontee said:

    And how do we rate Stynes against Gawn.  Jim was recognised as the best in the league.

    Is Max as good as Jim?

    Jimmy was like a freak midfielder who could ruck. His athletic ability was off the charts and he had the heart of a lion. In the ruck role, Max is streets ahead of Jimmy. I say this with the greatest respect. 

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