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If you want to see how blessed this football club is to have a Max Gawn there as a leader, watch his presser. All class, doesn’t bite at the journalists (not sure how he controls himself, frankly), manages to put a positive spin on it and all whilst being at turns completely authentic, seriously considerate of the incident, yet wholly Maxy. He is simply unique in football, a playing statesman of the highest order.

This is hands down the most ridiculous post I've ever read on Demonland. I've been here a long time. Congratulations.

This 12 minute news conference just loaded onto the club's website. Compulsory viewing for all members to just appreciate how lucky the Dees are to have a first class leader in Max Gawn.

I thought it really telling that it wasn’t our Pres, nor our football Manager, nor our Coach that fronted the media - it was our Captain that appeared to put his hand up for this role. To me, that says so much about about the man. No one better in my view.

Jon Ralph actually wrote a pretty decent article bringing all the bits together from the week - form, injuries, Bartlett texts, Melksham v May etc - and he finished with this: So here is the message for Melbourne: sharpen up and get it together. Good clubs smarten up and strip away the distractions. Clubs who cannot do that spend the next decade like Collingwood, wondering whether the Mick Malthouse succession dramas of 2011 had enough of an impact to derail them. In 2015 Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge blew .068 in a drink-drive controversy and six weeks later the Hawks were premiers. In 2007 Steve Johnson didn’t play AFL until round 7 given a club-imposed ban and 20 games later was the Norm Smith Medallist in a Grand Final victory. In 2020 Richmond looked to self-immolating in a hub amid fallout between Trent Cotchin and the senior hierarchy as kebab-shop punch-ons were the order of the day. Months later Richmond won a third premiership in four seasons. Distractions don’t have to define football clubs. They can be valuable lessons that recalibrate a player or a team or club. Melbourne is still the most talented team in football, but it is far from invincible. There’s no better stage than Queens Birthday, against a white-hot Collingwood side and without their All Australian defensive star in May, to start that march back to respectability.

That would be a completely over the top reaction as well as an act of stupidity.

Getting rid of those that need help is not the sign of a good culture or society. This mindset just ignores problems to avoid the hard work of tackling them. Its also not going to happen.

Hahahaha 17 other clubs would LOVE for us to delist the best FB in the game. Let’s give our flag back while we are at it.

Geez Max is as good a leader as I have ever seen, dealt with those questions artfully and mixed in his classic Max humour when necessary. No one i would rather want leading the boys out every week, we are very lucky.

The polar positions on this topic are fascinating I guess, if a little frustrating, but of course VERY Demonland. And why wouldn’t they be? Boils down to two issues I reckon - does in-season loading happen? Are we currently loading? Of course loading happens, that’s not a debate, it’s been an established strategy to ‘time’ peak performance since full-time professionalism in footy became a thing. Those who question its existence simply don’t know what they’re talking about. As to whether we are currently loading, we can’t know for sure, because it’s one of those things clubs NEVER talk about. That’s a whole other topic, one that, along with injuries and other clear performance-related issues (training facilities, illnesses, fixturing that affects rests between games) that the industry childishly - dare I say born of ridiculous group male pride - won’t mention because it invites criticism over ‘making excuses’. So we’re left with what we know from history, and what we see on the playing field. The notables on here have prosecuted the argument that we are currently loading, and it’s compelling to say the least. But if proof can only be had via an admission from the club, that’s NOT going to happen. They prefer to let the media and supporters speculate with their ever-reliable mania for doomsday hyperbole and click-bait commentary than fess up to their inner strategies. Part of me admires the discipline, the other part asks ‘to what end?’ Not sure which one wins.

You mean that guy who was in career best form last year until doing a knee and who has dominated at VFL this year and played one poor game last week.

According to Jay Clark, Melbourne is among 4 clubs that's officially interested in Daniel McStay. Free agent so would get him for free. Stoked to hear we're interested.

I’ve abided by the “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” rule so far in relation to the behaviour of Melksham and May. I do have something nice to say now, and that’s thank goodness we have our captain. He shoes true leadership, and his method of delivering the message is authentic and believable. Great stuff Max.

That's as strong a media performance from a player as you'll ever see, Raw, you can see he's hurt and dissapointed, but articulate, doesn't duck any questions, sets boundaries well. Such an impressive guy.

There’s those that see the game as coaches and those who see it as journalists. the afl media are the most reactive short sighted bunch going around. They refuse to dig into detail and make bold predictions without consequence. They refuse to see trends, history etc as relevant in their analysis. Plainly because it doesn’t sell. Some pretend to look at detail when making a claim, but really don’t. Like David king. Most just make short sighted claims that will get clicks. coaches have to see the long term. They play the season as a long game with many small ones within. They try things out. They manage situations, form etc. we were 10-0. Surely from there you manage things to make sure you are cherry ripe when it matters. History tells you from 10-0 you are a huge chance at a prelim at worst. I don’t think it matters who we lose to. We have to lose and it’s better to lose now, while we are without question, loading, injured and sick. the season is long. The game is too hard aerobically and the competition too tight to have an essendon 2000 season these days. to those who are in the sky is falling down camp. We almost beat Sydney while playing like [censored] and everything that could go wrong did go wrong against freo. Both games we were in dominant positions at one point aswell, showing that while we have legs we look fine. I’m not claiming we are a lock for the grand final but I dont think much is wrong with where we are currently at.

I can't remember a time when we've both been in turmoil as a club -- front page news for all the wrong reasons -- whilst *still* being seen as a great team, AND favourites for a forthcoming match. Normally the turmoil follows a streak of big losses and an extended period of poor performance... this time it's a tall poppy pile on from media elites unsurprisingly with ties to the Pies, Bombers and Tigers. Top of the ladder AND infighting? How juicy! Won a flag and lower crowds than the big clubs? Front page scoop! There haven't been many opportunities for us as a club to both be under public pressure whilst also being in a prime position to win a game of football. I really hope the club is primed to give a collective, snotty, pompous middle finger to absolutely everyone that has jumped on the pile on this fortnight, and give Collingwood a good old football lesson. Really [censored] give it to them. And then maybe after the game I'll treat two Pies supporters to a weekend at Buller. Will be the most extravagant vacation they would have taken in their lifetimes. Seriously, there isn't a better opposition to absolutely bury at a time when we're being question. [censored] fire up and show the league why we're still number one.

While I don’t think a club is defined by whether it can best Collingwood while being in a form slump - the next 3 months will define a small number of players, this group as a whole, and the club itself.

Melksham would have to be a strong chance. We know he can hit a target.

On QB morning the Demon Army will be running a SAUSAGE SIZZLE at Fed. Square. From around 10am you can come and enjoy perfectly cooked snags (we’ll leave Bunnings for dead), with yours truly on cooking detail for those who prefer them burnt to a crisp. 😁 (Soft drinks and bottled water also available for purchase.) All proceeds go to FightMND We will be situated opposite Flinders Street, as marked on the map below. Oh, and bring coins if poss since we’ll be tin-rattlin’ our lil hearts out. … and your kidlets! Bring them along for face painting and other messy (but fun) things to do! ❤️💙 DO IT FOR NEALE ❤️💙

And now for some good news. From humble beginnings, the podcast has grown and now the true believers have helped raised $25,000 to help fight the beast. Well done to Zurich, Gus and Max, and Bec Daniher is a star. The ‘Friends of the Podcast’ t-shirts – a nod to Max Gawn and Angus Brayshaw’s weekly segment – were a hit with Dees fans; the exclusive batch selling out in its entirety. Linda Griffin, Head of Brand, Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Zurich Australia and New Zealand, said the collaboration was a great way to further Zurich’s support. “Joining forces with the Gus & Gawny podcast has allowed us to increase our donation to $25,000 - what an incredible example of two partners working together to make a bigger impact as a team,” Griffin said. With Big Freeze 8 just around the corner, Gawn and Brayshaw were on hand on Wednesday to present the cheque to FightMND’s Bec Daniher, on behalf of Zurich. The sizable donation will continue the great progress made in search for a cure.

Will he McStay or will he McLeave? Hey, somebody had to say it.

Max was 100% the right person for this situation. The kids were fighting and it was the leader of the kids that stood up and took responsibility to say that it’s all sorted, we’ll learn from it and move on and respond on the field proving that it won’t derail the mission. The parents shouldn’t have been the ones to front the media apologising for the behaviour of their kids promising that they’ll do better next time.

Nice to see Max put all the conjecture and misinformation to bed once and for all. It's Melky, not milkshake.

This one?

I've never seen a better captain than Max, playing for any team.

We should be sending text messages to get the last 3000 members signed to reach 65000. We are good at text messages.

Are we still in possession of Schwabby's $80k desk? If so, that should cover things

Not sure what part you think is missing. They where drinking, a verbal turned to physical end of story. Feel for the other punters in the restaurant no one should have to be around that behaviour when eating out. Seriously thuggish behaviour all around by adults who should know better. Melksham has small kids at home and here he is drinking and punching a teammate on a Sunday night.

I really love this thread because, to me it typifies Demonland and brings the different approaches we all bring to supporting our club (and probably life) into stark clarity. In the blue corner we have (in this case) those who believe in training loads. Putting all the science aside and making no statement about whether loading is happening or not, the blue corner are the optimists. Believing that the club has essentially got things under control and if it hasn't us getting angsty about it is not going to help anyway. The blue corner doesn't think that anything we say on a fan forum is going to effect next weeks result one way or the other. Since that is the case and us feeling [censored] about things or good about things really only effects our own mental well being (not the dees performance), why not look for reasons and data that make us feel good. In the red corner we have (in this case) those who believe we are just making excuses for our club and that training loads are just the latest in a long line of excuses. Again putting all science aside on whether we are loading or not, the red corner are the pessimists. At heart they believe that winning and success is an anomaly and look for signs that we are regressing back to the mean (the mean for them is the Dees losing and letting us down as we are well used to). At heart the supporter pessimist suspects that when they accept excuses or less than perfect performances it has an effect on the players and the club. They feel that their criticism and lack of acceptance of soft excuses will have an effect on the players and/or those managing them, being soft on the players or the club is actually negatively effecting the club in their minds. To me this is quintessential Demonland, the blue corner vs the red corner fighting it out along ideological grounds to the death.

Would be a huge get. But would be surprised if he left Brissie.

Absolutely owned that press conference and even gave a journo a light clip for being mischievous.

Definitely agree with all of that. but i would also say that while our coaches have done a brilliant job, we still aren't a particularly skillful team, and so when fatigued we do revert a little bit to old habits when the options aren't immediately available to us. I think our poor conversion inside 50 is a result of our forwards being fatigued and not being able to create gaps as easily with their opposition, and the players further afield being slightly fatigued and not being able to run and carry quite as far before being rounded up, so they end up having to kick long from further out, resulting in shallower, and more predictable entries. I feel like we had a similar issue at this stage last season, i remember commentators saying if we can't find a way to score we can't win the flag.

If there’s one team that wouldn’t understand the importance of trying to instil a healthy culture, it’s that turkey safe-house.

Again, no one is linking ALL form to training loads. But i honestly cant understand how you can accept we are loading, but not accept, despite the evidence (eg our form slump this year and last year, and the obvious fatigue) that doing so is almost certainly going to negatively impact our form, and therefore our chances of winning. Loading fatigues players. That is undeniable fact. Fatigue, in any sport, negatively impacts skill execution and decision making and exacerbates any issues (ability to play a role, cohesiveness, injuries, illness etc etc) a team or individual might be battling with. It is harder to win when fatigued. I tried to bump this thread, but im not sure why i can't see it on my home page. But it is worth scanning because the questions now being asked about our from slump were all being asked last season (the date the thread began and ended is interesting, and suggests we have a few more weeks of sub optimal performance to endure - buckle up).

It might not be a popular opinion and it might be too early but I'd roll the dice with Van Rooyen. What could go wrong playing a first gamer on Queen's Birthday.

What has become of me? I went out of my way to source the Feral Hun to read the reports about the texts and the punch up. I wish I didn’t now. It really is a crap paper that sensationalises stories such as these. It gets worse. I then note that there is a story saying that the AFL should apologise to Essendrug, and sympathetic stories about the frosby flopping free kick seeking twerp Ginnivan. Loading or not loading, I hope the Dees are spurred on the beat the Ferals this weekend. I keep saying, for those of us who can, turn up on Monday. Do it for Daniher, do it for the Dees. Right now, they need all the support they can get from us. And make some bloody noise!

I have a degree in Exercise Science and 22 years experience in elite sport and agree roughly with Binman. Peak performance readiness only lasts so long. Teams in premiership contention try one of two (with variations) approaches: - Continue preseason for many weeks into regular season sacrificing peak performance in the interim, banking enough wins along the way (60%/40% is a good result depending on who they play) to keep them in and around top 8, then lightning the load and hitting their straps a few weeks later. This can be followed by a shorter block later in the season (around round 18), with final peaking occurring in finals. This all depends on list/age profile of course. - Train for a double peak which means they prepare to hit the season running and bank early wins (exactly as we seem to have done), before building load prior to and out the other side of the bye rounds (again sacrificing best performance and looking for a 60/40% win loss record) before hitting a second peak in the later half of the year. (Pre finals bye and pre Prelim bye for those top 4 who win first week allow reduction in game fatigue and increased uptake of train stimulus without negative effect (normally in the form of high intensity work like match simulation activities). Don't forget there's different forms of loading which have different outcomes. Aerobic Endurance, Aerobic power, Anaerobic endurance and anaerobic power are all types of prescription which have different outcomes. You can't do all at the same time, but tend to focus on them at different phases throughout the season. Not all have a negative effect on game day performance but all come together in the end (in theory) at the right time. Remember also, not every athlete is the same. Petracca (power athlete) will respond to increases in volume (running and gym reps) different to Langdon (endurance athlete). Hence each will be prescribed different stimulus to suit body type and training background and are monitored via gps for all metrics of volume, intensity and duration. During this time Petracca will likely get slow and heavy (and thus kick poorly), while Langdon is unlikely to suffer the same way and may in fact get better. If you add to that the influence of injury and illness, it can become quite a balancing act to make sure all athletes are doing what they need for their best performance. Sometime an athlete may need to extend their period of increased loading because they were sick or injured for a period during that time and actually dropped load whilst sick/injured. Having worked closely with a S+C coach involved in AFL for 8 years , I can assure you that teams do go through periods of increased training load throughout the season depending on where they sit on the table. Watching our boys in person the past few weeks they sure do look like they have changed training stimulus. In any event it's all speculation really as the club isn't about to come and hand out their IP to everyone by telling them what they are doing, so time and on field performance will reveal all!

He'd walk into our forwardline this year...

That was a viscous and completely disproportionate and disrespectful performance from the media. I could only conjur images of seagulls to chips on the beach. Really shameful and disappointing. And Tom Browne what an absolute [censored] for incessant questioning on details which are not helpful in anyway whatsoever other than slander and headline grabbing. Max did such a great job in responding and i can see he's blood is boiling. I am pretty confident that an immense response will be on display on Monday.

These damn journo's are like vultures, searching for any scraps they can find. Gawny handled that press conference really well. One of the best captains I've seen watching footy and a champion bloke.

Max for PM

Instead of this community service bollocks, how about some anger management classes! Imagine being a family at a nearby table when this garbage went on. A table full of muscular blokes on the amber fluid throwing banter around is antisocial and obnoxious as it is. Let alone the escalation to a 190cm 100kg+ specimen getting decked, before the both of them scuffling, breaking fittings inside, and ending up on the street. So easily could have led to injuries to bystanders, etc. Just disgraceful, especially from senior players. How on earth was melksham not suspended for responding to words with physical assault, in public no less, and against a recently concussed player???

Well if there is a time to close ranks and let your footy do the talking this is surely it....

To clarify, I'm in the "I think we're loading" camp, and definitely think it has affected our performance, but I also believe we wouldn't go so hard with the loading that we would then expect to lose. If they're doing it, I would think it would be about riding the balance between timing the peak fitness and not impacting so much that it means we'll likely lose. Probably the best way to explain my thinking on it is perhaps the effects of loading have magnified some existing issues with our performance - specifically forward structure and delivery, backline cohesion, centre clearances and lack of full understanding of the zone movements due to instability in selection.

You're being incredibly harsh mate.. The Herald Sun paper has many great benefits, such as starting my firepit up in my backyard on a sunny Sunday afternoon with a couple of 🍻🍻

I saw them all earlier in the day at the boxing, May, Melk, Jacko , Kozzie and a few others. None of the leaders. They probably went out for dinner afterwards and had been fired up with all that testosterone flying about

So May has allegedly been punched in the head, while recovery from a concussion... while alcohol affected? This could have ended so much worse. Just dumb from everyone involved.

Gazza on SEN says both leaders (Gawny & Viney) werent present. Thank goodness they went to the Sorrento instead!😄

Who is telling the media what May said to set Melkdsham off? Hopefully, none of the other players there nor someone at the club. Before we hang May for his barb to Melksham about the GF we don't know what came before it. It is unlikely May or anyone would throw that into a conversation out of the blue. I can think of some friendly sledges toward May that may have prompted his retort to Melksham. Then it all went pear shape. Nothing excuses all the things that were wrong about those events but context is important regarding what started it. Whatever started it, the right penalties were given.