The Score: Melbourne cost Max Gawn new nickname ‘The Difference’ with win over Essendon

THE SCORE: INJURED Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn is having a bad run, he’s injured and now he’s been robbed of a new nickname thanks to Melbourne’s win over Essendon.

Max Gawn is recovering from surgery on his injured hamstring.

MELBOURNE’S return to form has cost Max Gawn a new nickname.

The injured ruckman was pushing up his new title as ‘The Difference’ given the Demons form slump coincided with his enforced time of the sidelines because of a torn hamstring.

Gawn’s problem was suspended midfielder Jordan Lewis was also gunning for the nickname which he now claims following Melbourne’s victory over Essendon in his return game.

“Me and Jordan were both sitting there, obviously he had the three-week suspension and we were both calling ourselves ‘The Difference’,” Gawn said.

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“But he managed to get back and we had a win so he is the difference.”

Gawn told cycling podcast ‘The 3 Domestiques’ that he was ahead of schedule with his rehabilitation and hopes to be back within nine weeks.

The injury has also curtailed his passion for bike riding which started when he was at school.

Max Gawn is recovering from surgery on his injured hamstring.

“I do like my cycling, it’s a passion of mine I found in school. I went to a big cycling school with lots of Great Victorian Bike Rides and then I just went on from there,” he said.

The 208cm giant is popular on Beach Rd with plenty of riders keen to get into his slipstream with captain Nathan Jones a regular offender.

Last year Gawn completed the gruelling Three Peaks Challenge ride in Tasmania.

“It wasn’t my smartest idea; 240km and a lot of it is climbing. It’s a 13-hour deadline and we did it inside 12 hours,” he said.

“The group I was with made a little pact that we were going to meet at the top of the climbs and I was last up.

“I averaged about 3km/ph up one climb and there were people actually walking past me and I said ‘That looks like a good idea, but I’m going to stay on the bike’.”

Nathan Buckley posed for this picture on the cover of a new Collingwood book.

BUCKS STILL HAS IT

HE might be under pressure but you can’t knock Nathan Buckley’s work ethic.

The Collingwood coach had a lot on his plate over the summer but he still took time out from his duties to do a spot of modelling.

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the club, a book entitled ‘Champions of Collingwood, the 125 Greatest Magpies’ has been released.

The front cover is a picture of an old style jumper and when the publishers were searching for someone to model it, the coach happily put his hand up.

Given he’s in the same shape as he was in his playing days, Bucks had no issue getting the guns out for the photo shoot.

BIZARRE BASEBALL TRIBUTE MISSION

A BASEBALL fan in the States is on a mission to flush the cremated remains of his lifelong friend down ballpark toilets around the country.

The bizarre tribute has rules attached to it with the game having to be in progress when Tom McDonald sprinkles the ashes into the toilet from a little plastic bottle.

His best mate, Roy, was a plumber and mad Mets fans which is why the toilet is the key part of the strange ritual.

So far, he’s done it at 16 stadiums.

“I know people might think it’s weird, and if it were anyone else’s ashes, I’d agree,” McDonald said. “But for Roy, this is the perfect tribute to a plumber and a baseball fan and just a brilliant, wild guy.”

THE WHISPER

We hear some noses are out of joint at Kingston Heath with word filtering out that they’ve been beaten to the punch to host the 2019 Presidents Cup by rival Royal Melbourne.