Max Gawn dominating in the ruck but Melbourne midfield failing to capitalise

THE Demons have a problem — and it’s a big one. Star ruckman Max Gawn is playing the footy of his life, but his team isn’t making the most of it.

Max Gawn is firing, but his team’s midfield is struggling to win clearances. Pic: Getty Images

MELBOURNE has spent its shortest break of the year trying to solve one of its biggest problems — not capitalising on Max Gawn’s ruck dominance.

The Demons enter Sunday’s crunch clash against Essendon aware rivals are feasting on the big man’s record-breaking hitout supremacy.

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Gawn told the Sunday Herald Sun Melbourne’s lack of centre square cohesion had become worrying.

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Gawn had 56 hit-outs to Toby Nankervis’ 19 for Richmond on Tuesday night, but the Dees were hammered in centre clearances 16-8.

“I suppose it doesn’t look great when you’re getting large hitout numbers and you’re not getting the clearances,” Gawn said.

Max Gawn is in superb form. Pic: Michael Klein

“But the centre-bounce stuff is probably the most concerning. We haven’t been smashed in there for a while and Richmond absolutely annihilated us so we’ve got to get better than that.”

Gawn has won an AFL-high 267 hit-outs through the first five rounds — the most ever recorded — yet Champion Data statistics show he has been sharked by the opposition more than any other ruckman.

Incredibly, despite Gawn’s dominance, Melbourne ranks 17th in clearance differential after consecutive poundings from Hawthorn and the Tigers in this area.

“Teams have done it relatively well against us. The Richmond game was the first game it’s really hit us in the face about the clearance numbers,” Gawn said.

“We’ve looked at this week. Even though it’s only a short week we have looked at our midfield stuff and hopefully we can get a better effort against the Bombers on Sunday.

Gawn says the Tigers “annihilated” the Demons midfield. Pic: Getty Images

“There’s a lot that goes into a hitout. Sometimes we’re going to a person, sometimes we’re going to a zone and the zones can sometimes be hard to hit to because of the different numbers there. It depends who you’re up against.”

Melbourne’s season of promise sits on an early knife-edge. The Demons have fallen to contenders Geelong and Richmond, as well as a rejuvenated Hawthorn. But a loss to the Bombers at Etihad Stadium would see them slump to a 2-4 record.

Gawn said the players and coaches remained confident as the club chases its first finals berth in more than a decade.

“The faith isn’t getting tested. I’m still well and truly on the same wavelength as everyone else at the club and we all know where we’re heading and we’ve got to stay true to that,” he said.

Donm’t look now, but the Dees will be 2-4 if they lose to Essendon. Pic: Michael Klein

“The two games we won, one was on the road (Brisbane Lions) and the other was breaking a 17-game hoodoo (North Melbourne), so they were both challenging games for us and we won them.

“The three losses; two of those clubs are the best of the last decade (Geelong and Hawthorn) and one is the reigning premier (Richmond).

“It’s always going to be hard to take the four points against them. With Geelong and Richmond we gave it a good shot, but against Hawthorn we completely dropped our bundle.

“We don’t expect necessarily to come out and get all four quarters correct and play the unbelievable football we know we can, but we know we’re getting closer.”

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