Max Gawn reveals different groups within Dees playing group and why he loves watching
SOME are Fortniters, others way too mature for their age and then there’s the old men of the group. MAX GAWN reveals the different factions of the Dees’ playing list — and why being themselves is helping them thrive.
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FOOTBALL clubs are very complex places.
They are engaged in the endless pursuit of perfect team chemistry and a winning “culture”.
There is a good reason for this.
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Chemistry is knowing that Christian Salem will turn around and hit a kick on his left almost every time he gets the ball.
Or that when Jake Melksham gets the ball outside 50m he has such penetration on his kicks that Jesse Hogan will most likely lead to the space behind him.
This chemistry is developed at training and perfected, through repetition, over time.
I would love to give you more examples, but I already feel like I have spilt some of our top secrets.
Now to culture. This is the side of football I’m more interested in — knowing more about your teammates than, “Christian Petracca is one of three boys who group up in Melbourne’s east”.
As a teammate, you want to know what drives him, where he needs help, what makes him tick, why it makes him tick and how to get him ticking at the right time.
Every organisation has core values to help with guidance and accountability.
But they are just words on a wall unless properly applied. And to do this you need to work out what each value means to each person.
That’s why I love people watching/observing/investigating. And the best time to do this is in the physio room or at the club around lunch time.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned at Melbourne:
— THE OLD MEN OF MELBOURNE
There is a family/old man crew and an under-23 PlayStation crew.
Now I’m only 26, but unfortunately it’s a lonely age at Melbourne.
So because “Fortnite” is not something I can get into, I have latched on to the swapping of toddler stories between Jordan Lewis and Nathan Jones.
It has made me unexpectedly and alarmingly clucky. I want to be able to tell my own toddler stories now.
Lewis and Jones along with Bernie Vince, Nev Jetta and Cam Pedersen are the dads of our playing group, as well as being fathers in their own families.
They are senior figures who we approach for footy advice … and what we should wear in cold weather.
Having said that, they are far from being fashionistas, but they still enjoy the little things in life such as a nice red wine, a beautiful sunrise or even a new recipe.
The “Dads” have not switched on a PlayStation for six years.
THE FORTNITERS
The group with the most members is the “Fortniters” or the “Loud and Proud’ crew.
Petracca, Clayton Oliver, James Harmes, Angus Brayshaw and Jesse Hogan are the ring leaders.
Their code seems to be long hours on PlayStation, minimal sleeping.
These five completely different characters bond over footy, video games and loudness.
They also have bizarre handshakes and slang that not even I can interpret.
Chin-on-chin post game! I’d love to see Jones and Jetta do this.
— ‘WEIRD, MATURE YOUNG GUYS’
Then we have the “weird, mature young guy” group — Jake Lever, Alex Neal-Bullen, Billy Stretch and Tom McDonald (who is slightly older).
They like wine, have moved in with their partners and have embraced being a grown up.
They also have a fondness for activities. On any given day off, you will find them rock climbing or building sand castles on Ninety Mile Beach.
— THE CRICKET NUFFIES
The changerooms at AAMI park are shaped perfectly for a cricket pitch, therefore we also have the cricket nuffies.
These guys tend to spend the majority of their downtime trying to bowl out Australian under-19s captain Pat McKenna.
Sam Weideman, Mitch Hannan and Oscar McDonald bowl and normally get hit back over their head.
Due to the shape of the pitch, Josh Wagner’s locker is positioned at silly point. Josh hates changeroom cricket.
— THEY PLAYED FOR ESSENDON
The last group worth noting is the “I played for Essendon” collective.
Michael Hibberd and Jake Melksham have an incredibly close bond and my gut feel is they want to make it closer.
Hibbo can dabble in the PlayStation group and “Melky” can mix it with the dads, but when crap hits the fan, you will know where to find these two — together.
DEES ALLOWED TO BE OURSELVES
The great thing about Melbourne, as we currently stand, is that egos are left at the door and every type of person is accepted.
The club I walked into nine years ago tried to convert me into someone that I did not want to be. This was partly on me as well.
But things have changed. I love the quirks that my teammates have and I love watching them develop into men naturally.
Because sometimes chucking an 18-year-old into a full-time, fully professional environment can force unnatural development.
It makes sense to let Christian Petracca be Christian Petracca. When you do, he feels like he belongs as the person he is, and that is when he shines.
I feel like Melbourne lets people be the best versions of themselves — not only on the field but off it as well.
I care for all of my teammates. You want to help as much as you can when they are down on form or in life.
I felt helpless when Harley Balic announced his retirement last week. He just couldn’t keep up with AFL footy and the demands.
But at least we were all able to see Harley for being Harley.
He felt comfortable to be himself around the club and he opened up to the boys on multiple occasions, but, ultimately, he just could not commit to the journey.
Footy is hard and there is a baseline level of competitiveness, professionalism and fitness that you have to reach.
But footy would be a whole lot harder if you had to change your personality or use extra energy pretending to be different person.
Will this formula deliver success? I’m happy to find out.
Does being the best “you” have an impact on being the best teammate? I’m sure it’s better than being a shadow of yourself.
What I do know is that I have a very small family — two parents and two brothers in Australia.
But now it feels like I have 50 — four Gawns and 46 Demons.
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