Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn on his journey to AFL stardom
From embarrassing pre-draft interviews and his love of an unheralded former Tiger, to feared opponents and his job at Domino's Pizza. Max Gawn on his journey from resistant ruckman to bona fide AFL star to Melbourne captain.
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With Max Gawn set to be unveiled as Melbourne's new captain today, we look back at his journey from a Domino's Pizza worker to genuine AFL star and now leader.
Max Gawn felt sheepish. He scoffed at the snacks.
“There was some New Zealand food on offer, which I was pretty embarrassed about,” the ruckman recalls.
“Chocolate Hedgehog slices and Anzac biscuits and probably L&P (Lemon & Paeroa soft drink).”
Seated around the family coffee table in McKinnon were Gawn’s Kiwi parents, Rob and Sandra, and Melbourne recruiters Barry Prendergast and Gary Burleigh.
At 17, there was no bushy beard to help hide Gawn’s discomfort.
“I’m asking these recruiters what AFL training is like and Mum and Dad are asking some pretty nuffie questions,” he says.
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“Like what happens when the ball gets bounced and why does it go back to the middle. They were really embarrassing me that day.
“Even now, they still don’t know what they’re watching. I kick a goal and they yell out, ‘Try’, and they ask why somebody doesn’t pick me up in ruck contests.”
But the recruiters went home happy. They learned the beanpole draft prospect — more of a marking forward than a ruck — was a handy cross‑country runner with decent bloodlines, stemming from Rob’s rugby background.
Minutes later and this interview is interrupted.
“What happened there,” Gawn asks from the couch in his Bentleigh home, pointing at the New‑Zealand-India one‑dayer on TV after detecting the commentator’s heightened pitch.
Relief. New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor played a cut shot for four runs in Napier.
Despite that flash of teenage insecurity around the scouts, Gawn is a crazed Kiwi fan, bro’. His parents grew up in the north and the south. Rob relocated from Mt Manganui for work and met Sandra, who was from a remote country town called Greymouth.
“Then they moved over here with no money at all,” Gawn says. “No money, no family here and neither had any qualifications, so they really threw themselves in the deep end.
“Mum became a hairdresser and dad was a firey.”
With New Zealand this year set to play its first Boxing Day Test since 1987, four years before Gawn was born, he has already pencilled five days at the ’G into his calendar.
“The first day I might get carried away, so I might lock myself away from anyone who can see me in a box,” he says. “But the next four days I’ll be in the stands just as a bystander watching every ball.”
It will also signal the end of Gawn’s bachelor life. He turns 28 on the final day of the Test and will marry fiancee Jess early next year, having proposed in Queenstown last December.
Gawn was about 15 when he ditched the Wallabies for the All Blacks and Ricky Ponting’s team for Stephen Fleming’s.
“I remember finding out New Zealand was a pretty cool country and their sporting teams were very humble,” he says. “The All Blacks are a great sporting team to model any sort of behaviour on and I enjoy being a little bit different as well.”
A little bit?
His favourite current Kiwi cricketer is unheralded all-rounder Jimmy Neesham — “mainly because he’s funny on Instagram and Twitter” — and, if born a few years later, Gawn the teenager would have delisted Richmond.
“I probably would’ve been one of those kids who went for Gold Coast or GWS,” he says.
Growing up it wasn’t the usual Tiger poster boys decorating Gawn’s walls. Clinton King was his favourite player with Ray Hall a close second. Even Ezra Poyas (nine games) rated a mention.
Gawn the 16‑year‑old applauded Luke McGuane’s desperate performance on Nick Riewoldt so much he added the defender on MySpace.
“He accepted me and replied when I wrote to him,” he says. “It made my life. He was in my MySpace top four for a couple of years.”
Max Gawn felt sheepish. He scoffed at the snacks.
Suddenly, Gawn’s attention returns to the TV. “Why has someone just hit a six? You’re 120-5 — Jesus Christ, Mitchell Santner!”
With the Kiwis crumbling, frequent score checks are replaced by witty one‑liners and sharp storytelling.
At 208cm Gawn is as funny as he is tall. Try out his hospitality tales.
“My mum actually fired me from my first hospitality job,” he says.
“Who rosters someone at 7am on a Sunday after a 17th? I was never going to rock up, was I? I didn’t turn up that day and she said don’t come in Monday, so I worked at Domino’s pizza for four years.
“But Domino’s led me to bigger and better things — I got awarded the second‑best pizza maker in Victoria.
“I nailed everything — the speed, the weight, the look of the pizza — but I put too many bits of pepperoni on a Meatlovers.”
Gawn was supposed to sprinkle eight slices, he peppered 11 and that cost him a $250 cheque or a couple of Xbox games.
He will open a wine bar in Camberwell called East End before Round 1 and launch a food truck — The Bearded Jaffle — with brothers Adam (who must grow a beard) and Todd (who has one).
Gawn the barista takes his three‑quarter lattes strong — “I like drinking petrol, the darker the better”. If AFL didn’t work out, he would have happily devoted his life to cafes and bars ... admittedly maturing as quickly as Aaron Sandilands runs.
“That Domino’s certificate is up there with my proudest moments in life,” he says with a laugh.
“But I also won a $5000 quaddie when I was 17 on Turnbull Stakes Day at Flemington — that beats getting drafted every day of the week. I still remember the horses — Zipping, Sistine Angel, Hay List and Gathering.
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“They’re my two proudest moments.”
Given Gawn’s long supply of good times, his life advice shouldn’t surprise.
“I recommend to all young draftees you have to experience living with your teammates for a couple of years,” he says.
“It’s a very fun period, you’re living the best years of your life and, as much as footy is what we want to do, they are missing out on what all their mates are doing at 21.”
In 2011, Gawn and Lynden Dunn started dining every week at The Rising Sun, in Richmond, a quaint old pub dim on light but rich with character.
Eight years on and six players keep the tradition alive, all of their careers overlapping at Melbourne in 2014.
They are Dean Kent (St Kilda), James Frawley (Hawthorn), Dunn (Collingwood), Gawn and James Harmes (Melbourne) and Jack Fitzpatrick (Werribee VFL).
“Frawley was the first to join us in about 2013, and he brought (housemate) Aidyn Riley, who has since left,” Gawn says.
“It’s pretty hard work to get in, but if there’s an odd number we’re looking for someone, because pool is pretty competitive.”
A rock‑off decides the teams and if Harmes tags you it’s usually an expensive night, given the losers must shout next week’s feed.
“There’s a local guy there, he’s about 70 years of age and doesn’t know which way north is, and he beats Harmes in pool,” Gawn says.
If there’s a delay until the next skinfolds test a parma is on the menu for the AFL boys.
“Fitzy” is free to chew through nachos followed by a steak sandwich, given he’s out of the big league.
As teammates they would baulk at footy talk, but, with four AFL clubs now at the table, it is a natural topic.
“You ask the question on the sly,” Gawn says. “‘How are you going? What did you do today?’ But, really, you want to know what their clubs are doing.”
He gleaned from Frawley that the Hawks talls don’t run 2km time-trials. Instead, they smash out 2km worth of 200m sprints.
“I’ve been trying to get that into the Dees’ world,” he says.
“We used to get out of the 2km as talls, because Mitch Clark tore his hammy doing it once and he was a very expensive person.”
Frawley and Gawn are like brothers. In fact, when Gawn ties the knot they will be married to sisters.
Gawn first saw his fiancee, Jess, via a family photo Frawley’s partner had posted.
“She had a relatively good-looking sister and I just inquired,” he says.
“It took about a year for the inquiry to go through, but she eventually gave me a date.
“She was not keen on dating footballers, but I paid for the drink and got a second date.
“I thought I’d take her to St Ali’s for the best coffee in South Melbourne to try to impress her.
“It turns out she had a juice, so that didn’t work. But it’s good to settle down. I think I’ve found the right girl.
“Well, I hope I’ve found the right girl, because that was a pretty expensive ring.”
Before getting down on one knee to propose, Gawn crammed in two days of a New Zealand Test match and a one‑day game.
On his 15th trip across the Tasman he also pedalled up Queenstown’s Coronet Peak, known for its skiing, with comedian Hamish Blake.
It was hard work as a 45‑minute climb morphed into a 70‑minute punishment because the road melted under their tyres.
“Queenstown wasn’t used to the heatwave,” Gawn says. “They’d had four days in a row of 23C and the roads were melting. It actually felt like we were riding up the mountain with brakes on.”
A pair of knee reconstructions would be enough for some players to go around kicking bikes, given the compulsory riding that rehabilitation requires.
But he can’t get enough. He has sweated through Tasmania’s 250km Three Peaks ride and, on Australia Day, rode 60km in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Torquay.
A lot more will be saved for after retirement, given too much pedalling can shorten the hamstrings.
Gawn’s bike buzz also fell into the “I like to be different” basket.
Growing up, Gawn — who was “a bit of a brat” at McKinnon High, albeit a maths whiz — had a TV in his room, which kept him up during the Tour de France.
“I used to watch it just because (race commentator) Phil Liggett’s voice was unbelievable,” he says.
“I found some love for a sport because, as a kid, I didn’t want to go to bed and there was nothing else on.”
Recently Demons players were engrossed by the NFL finals. Nearby, Gawn sat at GPS guru Kayne Johns’s desk watching the Tour Down Under.
“Our screams weren’t as loud as theirs,” he says.
“The NFL finals were pretty crazy apparently, but you should’ve seen Richie Porte go up this hill. I reckon they would’ve been fascinated by that as well.
“I sit by Kayne’s desk for half an hour after every big stage and talk about what happened.”
The cycling fad helps feed Gawn’s new-found love for fitness. Leading into 2018 he shed 10kg as he cut sugars and carbs from his diet.
The big man gets “FOMO” (fear of missing out) when he misses a session, even if his right knee appreciates the odd rest.
But that wasn’t always the case. Rewind a few years and even the thought of running would raise his heart‑rate.
“A lot of our game plan in the Mark Neeld‑era was very running‑based, and a lot of the negative clips that would get brought up on the Monday was about the efforts in running,” he says. “It created a massive anxious feeling about running for me. Every time there was a conditioning session or a time trial I’d get really worked up about it.”
Gawn remembers Todd Goldstein kicking five goals on him — “and he did not play forward one bit, that was purely from the ruck” — and it stressed him out.
“I’d go into games — not any more — where I’d be comfortable if I knew my opponent was an OK runner and I’d be nervous if he was a good runner,” he says.
“‘Goldy’ kicked five on me from running efforts and that would make me nervous going into games. It would build up a lot of anxiety.
“For some reason I was comfortable against someone who wasn’t necessarily a good runner but could be the best player in the comp.
“I thought the game of footy was all about running. That’s changed now.”
So have a lot of things. It wasn’t until Gawn’s fifth year, when he won Casey’s VFL best and fairest, that he started to enjoy playing in the ruck.
“It’s no place for the faint‑hearted, and I wasn’t ready for it when I was young,” he says.
“I didn’t use my size and I used to get beaten.
“There’s pressure being a 208cm ruckman that’s getting beaten by a lot of people smaller than him, and that just built up.
“I started to hate the position ... You’ve got someone coming at you the whole time and you get narky midfielders who want the ball on their chest and then you get a taste of how fun a different position is.”
The late Dean Bailey — “a man ahead of his time and a very good developer of young men” — gifted a clean‑shaven Gawn a premature debut when Mark Jamar was injured in 2011.
Behind the scenes, ruck coach Greg Stafford was helping Gawn grow fond of the ruck craft.
Now Gawn marvels at it, describing the art of rucking as a “phenomenal thing”.
Dean Cox’s combination of running power and tap work made him a fierce opponent while Sandilands is still causing problems.
“You can have tactics galore but the amount of strength and height Sandilands has, plus his technique, and he’s still in the competition at 36,” Gawn says. “He’s someone who has bullied me around in ruck work. I get quite nervous against him.
“Sam Jacobs has got great hands and can take a game away at the centre bounce while Stef Martin is purely one of the strongest players.
“If you get caught anywhere on a bad angle with him he’ll just put you on your arse.”
He enjoys the “invariable bounce” from an umpire while “scripted” throw‑ups favour players such as Nic Naitanui.
This season, ruckmen who take possession from a stoppage will no longer be pinged for holding the ball as soon as they are tackled.
“The ruck role is almost coming back 360 (degrees). We’re playing like Jim Stynes again,” he says.
Martin and Brodie Grundy pose threats as clearance‑winning ruckmen under the reverted rule while Gawn’s new stablemate, Braydon Preuss, is similarly powerful.
“Preussy’s 120‑odd kilos, which is 15 on me,” he says. “He’s a big boy and he’s certainly given me a bit of a lesson. To be fair, he should be pushing me around as well.
“I was a little bit daunted playing him when he was a four‑game player (in 2017). I can imagine a lot of players being scared before they even go out there.”
Coach Simon Goodwin invited Gawn and Preuss to his Malvern home before the trade was rubber‑stamped and is considering playing the pair together.
“Preuss obviously said to me it would be pretty stupid if I thought it wasn’t going to work,” Gawn says.
“I told him that if ‘Goody’ thinks it’s a chance for us to go to the next level then I’m a pretty impatient man and so are 50,000 Melbourne supporters.
“By all means I’m happy to try it. If we play one or if we play two it’s a positive, no matter what.”
Gawn’s past three seasons have finished on sour notes, most notably last year’s preliminary final hammering in the west.
He has never been to a Grand Final and binned a bunch of invitations last year so he could watch it alone, picturing himself on the MCG.
“Normally I could be drunk by halftime and not know what’s going on,” says Gawn, who will play his 100th game in Round 1.
“It was relatively hard to watch, especially that last five minutes. That’s the best five minutes of football you can play in.
“I looked at it and knew our contested brand of football would stack up. I found the talls really stood up and that’s probably the reason I’m excited about having Preussy.
“The bitter taste at the start of the past few pre‑seasons gives guys motivation, and I know I’ve come back fitter every year.
“Really, the only time we can go to an off‑season happy now is winning the flag.”
* Footy19 is available while stocks last at participating newsagents and IGA and Woolworths stores in Victoria/Riverina. Cost is $4.95 plus purchase price of that day’s Herald Sun.
MAX’S LOCKER-ROOM GUIDE
Resident rooster — Jake Melksham
He’s one of the only boys with moisturiser in his locker. Most people turn up to football clubs in trackies and a T-shirt, but ‘Melky’ looks like he’s going to the polo every day.”
Messy midfielder — Clayton Oliver
He lives with three other boys and has been well known to mess the house up. He wears the same black hoodie every single day. He can drop a lot of food on his hoodie and still wears it the next day.”
Old man — Alex Neal-Bullen
He’s a 47-year-old stuck in a 23‑year-old’s body. He’s incredibly grown up for his age.”
Comedian — James Harmes
Funniest by a country mile. Everyone thinks Harmesy putting that Instagram photo up of him in speedos in Bali (see below) is bizarre, but I could’ve told you it was coming. He’s probably got another 10.”
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