Max Gawn.... A giant of a gentleman and bloody good bloke.

[Dingo 1,126]

3 hours ago, Grapeviney said:

I must be the only one with a negative story about Max.

Saw him and his wife one night, and asked for a selfie.

He looked like he was going to punch me!

So I asked again - very politely - and he got even angrier, started yelling and swearing and said he was going to call the cops. 

I actually felt threatened for my safety at that point, so I left his house.

Just a warning to others that he's not as approachable as he seems. 

One more point.My son used to play for Ormond in the Firsts.And in Maxs early years with MFC he used to come and watch Ormond play.We sort of got to know each - say hello and stand near each other at the ground.He would always acknowledged me.But l never asked for his autograph or photo.Nobody else hassled him - he was just one of the supporters.

[Ollie fan 3,475]

7 hours ago, Grapeviney said:

I must be the only one with a negative story about Max.

Saw him and his wife one night, and asked for a selfie.

He looked like he was going to punch me!

So I asked again - very politely - and he got even angrier, started yelling and swearing and said he was going to call the cops. 

I actually felt threatened for my safety at that point, so I left his house.

Just a warning to others that he's not as approachable as he seems. 

Do we gather that you approached him at his house, and did not leave when asked?

[DEE fence 5,039]

8 hours ago, Grapeviney said:

I must be the only one with a negative story about Max.

Saw him and his wife one night, and asked for a selfie.

He looked like he was going to punch me!

So I asked again - very politely - and he got even angrier, started yelling and swearing and said he was going to call the cops. 

I actually felt threatened for my safety at that point, so I left his house.

Just a warning to others that he's not as approachable as he seems. 

Everyone can have a bad day for whatever reason, but you would have to say the body of work across a fair period of time has been pretty chilled. However I noticed during the Easter Egg hunt video that was uploaded that he was in a bad mood, and from other clips that sometimes when he is focused he is far from a teddy bear. But these small moments haven't dimmed my agreement with the sentiment expressed by the OP. 

[layzie 34,013]

Captain Fantastic.

It will hurt like a wrench when he's gone. 

[Fork 'em 6,991]

Now I didn't watch the Eagles religiously when Cox was playing but I don't remembering him taking control of games like Gawn does.
He might've at times but not like Max, or as regularly.

And it's a travesty that he probably won't win a Brownlow.


 

Edited May 16 by Fork 'em

[whatwhat say what 22,948]

1 hour ago, Fork 'em said:

Now I didn't watch the Eagles religiously when Cox was playing but I don't remembering him taking control of games like Gawn does.
He might've at times but not like Max, or as regularly.

And it's a travesty that he probably won't win a Brownlow.


 

i used to watch meth coke in the flesh every time they came to sin city to play the bloods; it was during their golden period of close contests (akin to ours with the baggers)

cox was every bit as influential around the ground as max is, but in more of a ball-winning ability

max's marking and leadership sets him apart for mine

Edited May 16 by whatwhat say what

[Fork 'em 6,991]

 

 

 

[Fork 'em 6,991]

 

[DEE fence 5,039]

@Fork 'em they only thing you're missing are the salty tears of Chris Scott's post match comments, cheeky grin, couldn't help but wonder if the R8 Scott PC, was tinged by memories of '21, he seemed very touchy about Max. Thanks so much for the video's always an excuse to watch them again.

[Fork 'em 6,991]

12 hours ago, DEE fence said:

@Fork 'em they only thing you're missing are the salty tears of Chris Scott's post match comments, cheeky grin, couldn't help but wonder if the R8 Scott PC, was tinged by memories of '21, he seemed very touchy about Max. Thanks so much for the video's always an excuse to watch them again.

Twice I've teared up watching footy and I posted both of them.
His after the siren goal to finish the season on top for the 1st time in my life.
And then the moment I knew he was taking us to the GF with his running bomb in the Prelim.
Both against Geelong 😅
Good times.

[Palace Dees 2,340]

We need to get behind our champ and make him the peoples choice for AA Captain.

Please vote for him. 

 

Our mid-season All-Australian team: Who makes the cut? - https://www.afl.com.au/news/1144788

[DubDee 26,123]

5 minutes ago, Palace Dees said:

We need to get behind our champ and make him the peoples choice for AA Captain.

Please vote for him. 

 

Our mid-season All-Australian team: Who makes the cut? - https://www.afl.com.au/news/1144788

He captained the side last sunday and against WC

you think he deserves AA captaincy?

I don’t think so

[Palace Dees 2,340]

10 minutes ago, DubDee said:

He captained the side last sunday and against WC

you think he deserves AA captaincy?

I don’t think so

Well, you vote for the captain of this year's undefeated team then.

I'll vote for the best.

[Little Goffy 14,645]

14 minutes ago, DubDee said:

He captained the side last sunday and against WC

you think he deserves AA captaincy?

I don’t think so

Wow, you must really hate Robbie Flower.

[DubDee 26,123]

3 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Wow, you must really hate Robbie Flower.

how many teams did Robbie captain that weren’t out of the top 4 for 3 years and won a flag?

I can’t believe anyone would think max deserves this honour this year. Of course he has been amazing over the past years

[Guest]

i find it puzzling that Max is exempt from any scrutiny. Folks are quick to call for Goody’s head, to point the finger of blame at individual players, the selectors, Greg Stafford, the FD in general, the list goes on. These are all opinions based on looking from the outside in. Why is it so that on this same basis of looking from the outside in, Max is never considered by fans to have any accountability? 

[Palace Dees 2,340]

22 minutes ago, DubDee said:

how many teams did Robbie captain that weren’t out of the top 4 for 3 years and won a flag?

I can’t believe anyone would think max deserves this honour this year. Of course he has been amazing over the past years

Believe it or not, who wins the popular vote will not make a scrap of difference.  The AFL in the past have given the AA captaincy to non club captains, making it a farce. eg. Franklin, Hawkins etc. Great players, but not great captains in the eyes of their own clubs. 

Max has been a fantastic player, leader and captain over many years.  I am not going to change my respect for who he is and what he has done for our club, and the AFL as a whole, simply  because his teammates let him down on the weekend. 

My whole reasoning for rallying for this is to say we supporters still believe in you Max. He is not the reason for our poor form. He is the only shining light in this storm on and off the field and he deserves our support.

 

[Demon Disciple 12,274]

Max as much as I love him, is almost too nice on the field.

I don’t want him going out of his way to hurt the opposition, but a bit more physicality needs to be shown from him. And how many times have the opposition hit him and such? If he had a bit of mongrel in him, they would do it far less.

As for his leadership, well it’s being tested now more than ever, and he needs to lead from the front for more than 1 game in a row but a good string of them. He’d be leading our B&F by a fair bit atm, but that says more about our other players and their poor form, just as much as Max’s good run.

We need more from him, but we need more from everyone too.

[leave it to deever 17,517]

Gives his all every game.

[Dee Zephyr 19,269]

26 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

i find it puzzling that Max is exempt from any scrutiny. Folks are quick to call for Goody’s head, to point the finger of blame at individual players, the selectors, Greg Stafford, the FD in general, the list goes on. These are all opinions based on looking from the outside in. Why is it so that on this same basis of looking from the outside in, Max is never considered by fans to have any accountability? 

WCW likes to defend our players, but when she attacks she goes after the top dog in Max. 
🤣🤣 

[Guest]

Just now, Dee Zephyr said:

WCW likes to defend our players, but when she attacks she goes after the top dog in Max. 
🤣🤣 

Noooo! Defs NOT having a go at Max. Just wonder why he’s always untouchable. Anyways Zephs, if you think that’s me attacking somebody you’ve clearly never been on my bad side. Let’s keep it that way 😉 

[Chook 15,022]

36 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

i find it puzzling that Max is exempt from any scrutiny. Folks are quick to call for Goody’s head, to point the finger of blame at individual players, the selectors, Greg Stafford, the FD in general, the list goes on. These are all opinions based on looking from the outside in. Why is it so that on this same basis of looking from the outside in, Max is never considered by fans to have any accountability? 

I've potted Max over his part in the Grundy experiment failing. I think we give him a pass for being a generally dodgy forward. A lot of our problems would be solved if he'd stepped up in that area and allowed Grundy to be our main ruck.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Chook said:

I've potted Max over his part in the Grundy experiment failing. I think we give him a pass for being a generally dodgy forward. A lot of our problems would be solved if he'd stepped up in that area and allowed Grundy to be our main ruck.

I’m guessing you would’ve been shouted down on these occasions. People believe what they wanna believe and some simply refuse to entertain anything contrary to what they’ve always believed. 

[Neil Crompton 5,663]

1 hour ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

I’m guessing you would’ve been shouted down on these occasions. People believe what they wanna believe and some simply refuse to entertain anything contrary to what they’ve always believed. 

It’s probably time to let the cat out of the bag WCW. What harm can it do now? And it will mean you don’t have to keep “implying” without “stating”, because there are too many who have not yet absorbed your hints to date.

[Little Goffy 14,645]

I'm kind of shocked.

Something went horribly wrong against Fremantle and I'd like to be alarmist but so many others have hit the panic button before me that the fun has drained out of it.

We came into the season seriously behind. I was thinking we'd be lucky to even have a 50/50 win loss record at the mid-season break. After the Alice springs disaster we're now 7w 5l and outside the 8 on percentage alone, and in this wacky season we're still one win short of the top 4.

Anyway, the problems are easy enough to identify;

Our forward line is an abject disaster. Not a single forward has been in form, and those who have been at least keeping the scoreboard moving or providing contests are the not the ones who can define a structure by contesting over and over - Fritsch and Pickett aren't built for the role, and Van Rooyen is eventually built for it but still too young to be doing it alone.

Our mature-age depth recruitment drove off a cliff. From the epic run of Langdon, Hibberd, Melksham and Brown all playing their part to make a team complete (and even Tomlinson had an important run of form before his injury), we've now had Dunstan, Hunter, Grundy, Billings, McAdam, Schache and Fullarton all cost us more than they have been worth to date.

And of course the elephant in the room of losing Angus Brayshaw right on the cusp of the season, when also previously losing the depth which would otherwise have come in, James Jordon. The hole in our hearts is matched by the hole in our list.

And the other elephant in the room of Oliver's messed up pre-season and 'just another midfielder' form. Simple statistics will say he is down about 20% on the levels he sustained consistently for seven years. That feels about right, but maybe exacerbated in the sense of "getting it 20% less, and then doing 20% less with it."

It is pretty clear that the emotional strain of holding it all together under such trying circumstances got the better of us at last, away in Alice Springs and without Lever's reassuring screaming keeping everyone in line.

None of this is a surprise or mystery.

And yet we're right in the mix after playing through one of the hardest draws of any club in the first half of the season.

Congratulations Max Gawn on being an epic captain providing the example of even-tempered grit and excellence the club so desperately has needed during this time.

Edited June 5 by Little Goffy