AFL 2020: Melbourne defeat Adelaide as Max Gawn reveals he overcame injury to play
Melbourne has spoken to the AFL about the treatment of Max Gawn after he was again targeted by Adelaide. Coach Simon Goodwin heaped praise on the captain who overcame a significant injury to play — but he’s in doubt for next round.
Melbourne
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Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has called for umpires to give captain Max Gawn more protection after the ruckman was heavily targeted by Adelaide players on Wednesday night.
The Melbourne coach hailed Gawn’s performance and leadership as “unbelievable” after he also overcame a soft tissue strain and soreness to help his team to a 51-point win.
Goodwin revealed the club has spoken to the AFL about Gawn’s treatment.
Gawn will be assessed and is no certainty to play against North Melbourne on Sunday as he continues to battle an upper back strain that had prompted calls “all over the world”, with the Demons having just four days between matches.
“He gets a lot of attention, Max, and we continually speak to the various powers to be about the attention he gets and he gets clearly targeted around just getting to a stoppage,” he said.
“It happens every week – he’s a target for most teams, he’s an outstanding player and great leader and hopefully at some stage that will come to an end.”
Gawn was sent for scans this week and was in some doubt to play against the Crows, with the ruckman revealing the extent of the injury after the 13.10 (88)- 5.7 (37) victory.
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“I did tear something in my upper shoulder region (the lat muscle),” he said on Fox Footy.
“I had to be careful and get as much advice as possible, we went to different people and (fitness boss Darren Burgess) called all over the world trying to find people that had the injury.
“We came to the decision that I could probably play … the first half did take me a while. At times I thought ‘why did I put my hand up?’, but I did get into it towards the end.”
Melbourne great Garry Lyon said it was clear Adelaide were making it difficult for Gawn to get to the ruck contest.
“You have got to have the right to be able to get to a ruck contest,” Lyon said on SEN.
“Certainly last night Adelaide went out of their way to make that difficult (for Gawn) and little Ned McHenry was leading the charge there.
“And that must be happening more than what we saw last night.
“I don’t mind the physicality of players and sometimes you target a player, but as a ruckman you have got to be able to get to the contest without having your run blocked I would have thought.”
OLIVER’S PERFORMANCE ONE OF THE GREATS
Melbourne star Clayton Oliver led the charge and hopes the team’s victory over Adelaide can spark the team into action.
Oliver led the way in the Demons’ 51-point win, notching 34 disposals including 22 contested possessions and a goal as the Crows were handed their 10th straight loss of the season.
“(It was) a good win by the boys, great to get a win back on the board and hopefully we can keep going from here,” Oliver said on Fox Footy.
The Demons piled on seven goals to one in the final quarter after they were encouraged to stick with “fundamentals and basics” by coach Goodwin, Oliver revealed.
But despite the tribulations of the previous few days, he said the coach had maintained a positive approach that reaped rewards on Wednesday night.
“It was a really positive attitude from Goody,” Oliver said.
“He was getting around us, looking after us. We put it in the past and focused on the next 10 games of the year.”
Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton said Oliver’s performance was “one of the best games of any individual that we’ve seen this year, but he played team football as well”.
‘ALIVE AND WELL’
Goodwin said the side’s season is “alive” and “well” after putting behind a testing six days, that included lashings from chairman Glen Bartlett and club great Garry Lyon.
The Demons and Goodwin entered the match against winless Adelaide at Adelaide Oval under enormous pressure on the back of Bartlett labelling the club’s defeat by the same margin to Port last Thursday night as “disgraceful” and “soft as butter”, and Lyon calling it “pathetic”.
A loss to the struggling Crows would have raised all sorts of questions at Melbourne, but instead the victory moved it to a 4-5 record with a game to come against Essendon.
Goodwin said last week’s display was “completely unacceptable and we took responsibility for that, but that was one game” and the side’s form for most of the season had been “OK”.
The fourth-year coach said Bartlett’s comments were “were just addressed with our playing group because when the chairman speaks, you listen, but it didn’t have any impact on our preparation or tonight’s result”.
“As a club, we were disappointed and as a coach post last week I was pretty clear what I thought of the performance … and we wanted to launch into this week and do it our way and bring our strengths, and I thought tonight we did,” Goodwin said.
“It was important we got back in a frame of mind to where we were and we came to Adelaide to try to win two games, we’re one down and got another (against North Melbourne) in four days’ time (on Sunday).
“Our season is alive, it’s well and we’re right in it like every other team.”
Adelaide took it up to the Demons for three quarters and were just two goals ahead at the last break before the visitors powered home, kicking seven goals to one.
“They brought a lot of heat early in the game and it was one of those games that was going to be in the balance for a long period and to our guys’ credit, they fought it out,” Goodwin said.
‘WE RAN OUT OF GAS’
According to Crows coach Matthew Nicks, his team “ran out of gas” – both physical and mental – as it sustained its 10th straight loss to start the season.
“It was an arm-wrestle and we put out three high-quality quarters of contested ball against a very good contested ball team, and we ran out of gas,” Nicks said after the 51-point home loss.
“We’re off a four-day break but that’s challenging for all teams and we made nine changes, so we had nine fresh guys in.
“When you’re 12 points down at three-quarter time and feel like you’ve had a fair bit of the play – up to that point statistics were reasonably balanced … and it was a good battle.
“There’s no doubt when they got one or two quick goals and bust out of centre bounce and bust out of stoppage, there’s a mental side to that for both teams – they get a lift … and, if anything, we maybe dropped off a per cent or two, and that’s too much against a good side.
“Credit where it’s due, they were very good in that last quarter and got clearance going.”
On paper, the past two games – against second-bottom North Melbourne and a Melbourne side coming off a horrible performance last week – looked winnable for Adelaide.
Now, after a 69-point loss to the Kangaroos and a fourth-quarter fade-out to the Demons, the 0-10 Crows only have seven games remaining to avoid becoming the first side since 1964 to go through a season without a victory.
Nicks was confident one would come before the end of this campaign.
“We’ve been in a number of games where we’ve had our opportunities,” he said.
“It does get tougher and tougher for a group when you are losing the way we are but it comes back to what we live by, what are our values as a group, but we didn’t quite put them out there for four quarters today.
“We’re doing it tough and we’re 0-10 but it will make it all the more sweeter that we’re experiencing this hard time when we do actually turn it around, play some really good footy and get some wins on the board.”
After Brodie Smith (knee) was a late withdrawal and replaced by Ben Crocker, the Crows fielded nine players aged 22 or under and 11 who had featured in 30 games or fewer.
Adelaide hosts Collingwood on Tuesday night.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The debutants keep coming for Adelaide during this rebuilding season.
Harry Schoenberg and Lachlan Sholl were the latest to get an opportunity, taking the Crows’ tally this season to eight – the most debutants in a year for the club since nine in 1999.
And both impressed.
Inside midfielder Schoenberg got plenty of opportunities at centre bounces, while halfback/wingman Sholl looked composed with the ball and used it well.
Adelaide’s other debutants this year have been Will Hamill, Andrew McPherson, Fischer McAsey, Ned McHenry, Kieran Strachan and Shane McAdam.
“I thought Sholl was rock solid and Schoenberg battled away inside and embraced the contest that it was against some high-quality opposition in (Clayton) Oliver, (Jack) Viney, (Christian) Petracca – it was a good initiation for him,” Nicks said.
“Some of these young players are showing us what will hopefully be a bright future.”
CLEARANCE ISSUE
Adelaide had only won the clearance count once in its nine games prior to Wednesday night – against Fremantle in Round 5.
And the Crows had been on the receiving end of some lopsided tallies in every other match, losing the category 46-25, 39-30, 38-25, 31-22, 28-17, 36-31, 37-2 and 35-20.
On Wednesday night, it not only matched Melbourne’s midfield for most of the night, but was leading the clearances 23-19 at three-time quarter-time.
But the dam-wall burst in the last term, as Oliver, Jack Viney and Christian Petracca all fired.
Oliver, in particular, looked dangerous at stoppages.
TALL ORDER
Melbourne dropped Tom McDonald and went with youngster Luke Jackson and Sam Weideman in a two-prong tall forward line.
The decision paid off, as Jackson and Weideman both worked into the game and proved instrumental in the Demons’ win.
Weideman finished with three goals, while Jackson managed two and both gave their midfielders a target.
SLING SCRUTINY
South Australian Alex Neal-Bullen might find himself in hot water with the Match Review Panel after a sling tackle on Hamill midway through the opening term.
Neal-Bullen, who was recalled to the Demons’ side for his first game since Round 2, threw the young Crow to the ground and gave away a free kick for a dangerous tackle.
The umpire did not report Neal-Bullen, but Hamill took more than a minute to get to his feet and appeared dazed when he did.
Moments later, Hamill came off the ground and did not return to the ground after quarter-time.
SCOREBOARD
ADELAIDE 2.4 4.5 4.7 5.7 (37)
MELBOURNE 3.2 5.4 6.7 13.10 (89)
GOALS – Melbourne: Weideman 3, Fritsch, Melksham, Jackson, Viney 2, Bennell, Oliver.
Adelaide: Seedsman 2, Himmelberg, Fogarty, Crocker,
MATT TURNER’S BEST
Melbourne: Oliver, Viney, Petracca, Salem, Weideman, Gawn, Langdon.
Adelaide: Lynch, Seedsman, Laird, M. Crouch, Brown.
INJURIES
Melbourne: Nil.
Adelaide: Hamill (concussion)
MATT TURNER’S VOTES
3 – Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
2 – Jack Viney (Melbourne)
1 – Christian Petracca (Melbourne)