Max Gawn thought AFL career was over before it had begun

MAX Gawn, currently challenging Todd Goldstein’s mantle as the No.1 ruckman, thought his shot at an AFL career was over after a devastating knee injury when he was 17.

MAX Gawn, currently challenging Todd Goldstein’s mantle as the No.1 ruckman in the competition, thought his shot at an AFL career was over after a devastating knee injury when he was 17.

Arguably the most improved player in the game this season, Gawn believed he was no chance of being drafted when he had a knee reconstruction in the TAC Cup with Sandringham Dragons in 2009.

The ruckman joked he’d probably be delivering pizzas had the Demons not drafted him.

“I definitely thought it (an AFL career) was over,” Gawn revealed on AFL360.

“It helped that Sandy Dragons told me they wanted to keep me around.

“I did a lot of weights, a lot of training, I put on a fair bit of weight — I was only 85kg when I was at the Dragons. I got drafted at 105kg, not all of that was good weight, but there was some weight which was good.

“I was currently working at Domino’s pizza, so I might have been a delivery driver.

“I would have made my way overseas at some point if I wasn’t playing football and I definitely will after football, but at the moment I just focused on football.”

Gawn revealed when he was 15 he wasn’t fit and was “a long way behind” those who wanted to be AFL footballers.

“I was at Dominos Pizza probably having a pizza a shift,” he said.

“I was in school but it wasn’t going too well. I wasn’t tall and was playing footy but just locally.”

Max Gawn and his beard. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

When the 208cm ruckman arrived at Melbourne it wasn’t smooth sailing.

Gawn had to give his pizza habits the flick and come to terms with the level of professionalism required at AFL level — including with his diet — something he admits was a shock to the system.

“When I first got to the football club it was a very professional environment and I was a long way behind those first couple of years,” he said.

“Slowly I got there ... but no-one can predict what AFL footy is going to be like.

“I use the analogy of private school versus public school. There’s not many public school boys in the AFL, there’s probably only four or five at our club at the moment.

“The difference is that private school kids are brought up in that professional environment.”

Gawn then suffered another ACL while at the Demons, in 2012, that wiped out his entire season.

He played just 26 games in his first four years but the turning point came in the Round 10 match against Geelong last year.

Since then Gawn hasn’t missed a game, this season averaging 40.8 hitouts, 15 disposals, five marks and 123.4 SuperCoach points.

Against North Melbourne in Round 3 he recorded 63 hitouts and 172 SuperCoach points in an enthralling battle with Goldstein, and dominated the Tigers last Sunday night with 17 hitouts and 160 SuperCoach points.

Max Gawn wins a centre bounce duel against Richmond’s Ivan Maric last Sunday. Picture: Michael Klein

Gawn said completing a full pre-season for the first time was behind his incredible start to the year.

“I was able to stay on the track, learn the game plan a lot more, get more into my craft and went from there,” he said.

“It’s definitely better winning. It’s more enjoyable playing this year.”

Gawn said he has embraced his cult figure status at Melbourne — “I don’t help myself, I’ve got a beard” — but expects Christan Petracca and Angus Brayshaw to eventually take that title off him.

Melbourne’s win against Richmond was the first time since 2011 the club had won back-to-back games.

Asked if the Demons have made a breakthrough, Gawn replied: “I’d like to think so. We’ve got a long way to go.

“We’ve played three out of five games where we’ve won and four out of five where we’ve played our brand of footy.

“The more we play our brand of footy and the more we bring that consistency that’s when we’re going to improve.”