Max Gawn says being drafted by Melbourne helped save him from a darker path as a youngster

MAX Gawn says football has saved him from an uncertain future, aware he could have gone down a dangerous path if not for the Melbourne Football Club and Jim Stynes.

Max Gawn at Melbourne training.

MAX Gawn says football has saved him from an uncertain future, aware he could have gone down a dangerous path if not for the Melbourne Football Club.

Brownlow contender Gawn opened up on the dark days of his career, including being caught by teammate Kyle Cheney for smoking a cigarette and hauled in front of the leadership group.

He says the penny finally dropped that he needed to work harder, but Jim Stynes’ advice that it was “OK to be different” helped him find his place in an AFL environment.

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Gawn told the Herald Sun that as a Dominos pizza maker who had no aspirations for higher education, he wasn’t sure how he would have turned out if coach Dean Bailey hadn’t drafted him as a 208cm project player.

“Football is all about learning curves and I was a real rough kid, I was a real raw kid

And football saved me in a way, to be honest,’’ he said.

“If you see where some people are in my life now compared to where I have got to, football has definitely saved me and turned me into a better person and the people I met along the way and stuff I have learnt along the way. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Max Gawn jumps over David Mirra and James Frawley.

“There were some ruffians (around me). Family friends, associates, people who have gone down the wrong path.

Football for me came at the right time, at 18 I could have gone anywhere, I was putting in a really good stint as a Dominos pizza maker and potentially could have had my own Dominos at some point. I am not sure if it is a goal an 18-year-old should go into but it was one of my goals.

“I chose a different path and I feel like it’s one of my strengths as a leader. Seeing different people come through and see how they react to being in an AFL system because I behaved like an absolute idiot.”

Gawn revealed the exact circumstances of being caught for “smoking darts” mid-season.

“I thought the Monash Freeway would have been a good place to have one and Kyle Cheney saw me and the next thing you know I was talking to the leadership group,’’ he said.

“I was six months into a knee reco, I couldn’t be suspended for a game unless it was carried over until 2014 when I finally decided to play.”

Max Gawn wore Jim Stynes' first number, No. 37, after being drafted in 2010.

Gawn inherited Stynes’ No.11 jumper, still cherishing his personal motto and the 18 months they spent together before the Brownlow Medallist and club legend passed away.

Next Monday Gawn could join his mentor as a Brownlow Medallist and the first bone fide ruckman to win the award since Stynes (1991) and Scott Wynd (1992) went back-to-back as big men to take home the medal.

“Jim gave me some words of wisdom I needed at the time,’’ said Gawn.

“I was a real different kid and he let me know it’s OK to be different. Thrive on being different.

“You have got to have a baseline, different is not smoking darts but Jim was able to tell me that.

“‘Whatever it Takes’ was his motto in life and it was a bit different to him, he drunk his own urine to stay alive but at three-quarter-time when you think about that motto, whatever it takes, it makes the game a little bit easier.”