‘Petulance’: New camera angle exposes second Max Gawn incident

Max Gawn and a star teammate have been involved in a heated confrontation with new video showing a second incident.

A new camera angle has exposed a second heated moment between Max Gawn and Demons defender Steven May.

The premiership-winning teammates clashed in the final moments of the Magpies’ thrilling 10.11 (71) to 11.6 (72) victory in the annual King’s Birthday blockbuster at the MCG.

Cameras caught the Demons captain and veteran fullback exchanging words in an angry fashion with May appearing to give his skipper a serve.

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Gawn had moments earlier attempted to play on after taking an intercept mark in the back pocket — only for his bold kick to land straight in the lap of Collingwood’s Will Hoskin-Elliott with 35 seconds on the clock.

Replays showed Gawn looking furious with his teammate’s verbal barrage and ended the exchange by pushing May away.

A new camera angle shared by Channel 7 on Monday night showed that was not the end of it.

Footage from a goalpost shows May went back at Gawn for a second time before he was ushered away by a teammate.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin brushed off the incident.

“Two competitors (who are) frustrated, two leaders that have got an incredibly strong relationship, obviously disappointed with the outcome,” Goodwin said post-match.

“They’ve moved on already. They’re in there (the rooms) having a good chat about it. They’ve moved on pretty quickly.

“As I’ve spoken to the whole group about, be disappointed with the outcome, but keep working on the things that will make us better.”

Steven May went at Max Gawn again. Photo: 7 Plus.

Despite how the kick from Gawn played out, Goodwin was not critical of the attacking kick.

“Obviously it didn’t come off the boot quite the way he would have liked but they’re the decisions you make with 45 seconds to go,” he said.

“The whole last quarter was filled with moments and they probably got those one or two better than us on the day and were able to maximise those opportunities.

“People look at that kick but you’re deep inside your last 15m and you’re trying to create something for the team.

“Certainly understand the thought process, just with a little bit of execution.”

Gawn’s rage was impossible to miss and Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall noted on Fox Footy Gawn looked “angry” as he walked off the ground.

Max Gawn and Steven May were involved in a heated post-siren disagreement after Melbourne fell narrowly to Collingwood.

On Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph revealed what Gawn had to say about the interaction post-game: “He wants us to win as much as I do. It was a disappointing last 30 seconds. I’m not actually sure what was said, it was so loud out there ... we’re two players who really want to win.”

Ralph added: “He knew there was very little likelihood that this was going to be an end-to-end (scoring) play. He said he was called to play on as well. He was surprised about that, having taken that mark.”

Ralph also revealed May was “not keen to clarify his version of events”.

Footy great Nick Riewoldt called the vision of May going back at Gawn a second time “extraordinary”.

It was extraordinary wasn’t it. Here’s the disappointment in Max Gawn. He’s just made an error. He was looking for some support from his mate and Steven May comes in. He doesn’t want a bar of it. And then there’s the push.

“To me this is tipping point for Max,” the St Kilda legend said on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters.

“I reckon he has carried such a massive load for so ling. He’s been pseudo CEO. He’s been pseudo president. He’s been the mouthpiece for the club last year. He’s been their best player.

“Today it just spoiled over for him.”

Footy commentator and Agenda Setters host Craig Hutchison said: “Steven May is in the hall of fame for clashing with teammates.

“How many teammate clashes has he had. You guys have been in high performance environments, is this petulance or competitive.”

The Demons now sit 14th on the ladder and despite a 5-8 record he believes the Demons potential is “still untapped”.

“We feel we’ve improved our game to a level where the outcome will start to be more prevalent.

“We’ve been able to do that for a period of time now but we think right now where our game is at, where our personnel is at and the ability to keep improving.

“Any team in this competition, in the back half of the season, can get on a run and we’re looking to be one of those teams.”

Originally published as ‘Petulance’: New camera angle exposes second Max Gawn incident