Max Gawn on Jim Stynes, Melbourne’s midfield and the burden of leadership

As chaos engulfed the Demons in 2024, skipper Max Gawn took on a heavy load. The legendary ruckman tells Jay Clark, he’d do it a lot differently if he had his time again.

Melbourne’s superstar captain Max Gawn went bike riding through a desert on the other side of the world and finally exhaled.

When the sky was falling around Melbourne late last season, it was the bearded big man who seemed to be carrying the joint.

And at the time, Gawn perhaps didn’t realise how much the stress and anxiety which had enveloped Melbourne had taken a personal toll on the skipper.

For the bulk of his brilliant career, the best ruckman of the past decade has seemed somewhat indestructible for Melbourne, on and off the field.

But when all of the crisis meetings and off-field changes were all sorted, instead of heading to the tropical beaches or Italian pizzerias, Gawn pedalled his way through the sand dunes of Saudi Arabia with his good mate Ed Langdon.

And that is when it hit him, laughing together in their Lycra, just how much tension and load he had carried.

Max Gawn concedes he could have asked for more help after taking on a huge burden when troubles hit Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

“Looking back, I could have asked for more help,” Gawn said.

“Maybe I should have limited my time in the media, but I had a contract at Triple M and it just got to the point in October where I was just happy to get to Saudi Arabia and jump on a bike with one of my best mates.

“It was nice, and once I got there I just knew deep down that I really needed this (break).

“But I will always defend my football club.”

It was Gawn who faced the music last year about whether Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver were leaving, at the same time he was trying to privately listen to their issues, diffuse any tension, and help make meaningful change which could help create a springboard of sorts for the red and blue.

And some of the most meaningful changes will come on field, especially in the midfield where a depth charge is going to create a significant new look inside the engine room.

In Gawn’s words, Melbourne’s midfield had been worked out since the 2021 premiership. And he was slow to adapt to the new ruck rules last year, he said.

Max Gawn and Ed Langdon during their off-season travels

But at the end of the months-long circus involving the futures of Oliver and Petracca, Joel Smith and Kysaiah Pickett, Gawn was the one reading the room when pre-season resumed.

And he liked what he felt.

“I can tell you, yes we are a united playing group,” he said.

“We needed to iron out some other things, and we needed to work out how to play the game again, because we had fallen off defensively, and in contest and offence.

“But I have never doubted the place I walked into each day. That is why I was so passionate about defending the club.

Gawn enjoys a Dees win.

The skipper celebrates a goal with Steven May.

“Yes, there was some peripheral stuff, and a lot of people commented on us, but I challenge you to find a quote from any Melbourne player that doesn’t mention their love for the group. It’s always ‘I love the players, I love the group’.

“It was always clear, to me, how united the playing group was.”

While the foundation he thought was still strong, the Demons’ mechanics had to change, especially in the midfield.

Melbourne took out the ‘21 flag, won the first 10 games of 2022, but were bundled out in straight sets that year and in 2023, before falling off a football cliff in 2024.

It brought to a head some home truths about the on-ball operation – that it relied on Petracca, Oliver and Jack Viney too much.

So, Ed Langdon, Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow and Harvey Langford are all set to join the wrecking crew in the middle this year as part of sweeping tactical change over the pre-season.

“We need to be a team that has seven midfielders and not three and we sat there on our heels and got worked out as a three,” Gawn said.

“And that is a credit to the rest of the competition.

“But they worked us out pretty quickly, although we were undefeated for 17 games there (across late 2021 and the first half of 2022), but it went downhill.

“Hopefully we can add Harvey and add Ed and Trent and Tom and there is suddenly a different mix in there.”

Ed Langdon is set to spend more time in the middle.

Trent Rivers is another player set to be added to the midfield mix.

It means some of the big boys are going to have to be selfless, moving into other positions. Ego is the enemy.

“There will be times when Clayton, Christian and Jack are all going to be told we need to move others through there,” he said.

“Seven doesn’t go into three, so ‘Trac’ is going to have to start forward and Clayton is going to have to learn forward. Vines might have to go out on a wing, and that is exciting.”

There is some brave change in that, but coach Simon Goodwin has led a search for “a new way”.

That includes Gawn, who says he got caught out by the new ruck rules last year even though he collected an extraordinary seventh All-Australian blazer and was runner-up in the best-and-fairest despite a nagging calf.

Harvey Langford battles with Luke Parker. Picture: Michael Klein

The new rules allowed ruckmen to grapple and lock arms more at the centre bounces, taking away Gawn’s natural jump and height advantage.

Gawn says he has gone to work some new skills, at age 33.

“I was a bit slow overall to the rule change,” he said.

“I didn’t think it was going to have as much of an impact as it did.

“A few of the bigger boys certainly got the advantage at centre bounce.

“So it was certainly something I put on my to-do list to go and watch a lot of vision, which I have, to be able to combat the guys who do the ‘staying-down’ stuff well.

“And I have got two of them in the first two weeks in Kieran Briggs (GWS Giants) and Tristian Xerri (North Melbourne), so I’m hoping I’m going to be capable.

“And (new Demon) Tom Campbell is very good at it, so he has taught me a few things which I’m excited to do.”

Gawn battles in a ruck contest with Tristan Xerri. Picture: Michael Klein

So the new red and blueprint has been put together ahead of a new season and Melbourne fans are unlikely to stomach another non-finals failure with a list this talented.

The stakes are higher this year. But Gawn, as driven as he is, views success more broadly than what just happens on the scoreboard.

He was a tall kid who suffered two right knee reconstructions when former president and Melbourne legend Jim Stynes saw a spark in the young ruckman.

Back then, he was a long shot to become one of the most dominant players of the past decade, but Stynes helped him not only harness his on-field power, but also his off-field authenticity which makes him one of the most popular and respected players in the game.

“The thing I am most proud of is the longevity,” he said.

“I was someone with knee recos and smoking darts (cigarettes) and I couldn’t give a s--t what the coaches said.

“So, to be able to play 16 years and be told I can lead my favourite club in the world. That is the bit I’m most proud of.

Gawn says he’s proud of his longevity in the game. Picture: Michael Klein

“And maybe it is easier to say this once you have won one, but every time I leave the All-Australian night I know I leave them as the same person.

“It is something (individual accolades) people want, people chase and people strive for, and I’m happy to be recognised, but I leave those nights still as the same Max Gawn.

“More than anything, I have tried to be authentic.”

He is not ready to hand over the mantle as the game’s top ruckmen just yet, and is certain Melbourne can have a crack at going deep into September this year, after the disastrous end to last year.

But his view of life won’t ever be through a small lens.

Life is too short. And every week he misses his mate, ‘big Jim’, the inspirational Melbourne legend who might have taught him more about life than ruck work.

That is why he touches his number 11 jumper before every game and takes a moment to think of Stynes.

A young Max Gawn with the late Jim Stynes.

Football is incredibly important, Gawn said, but it is also a vehicle to reach out and help others, like ‘Jim’ did, even as he battled cancer.

“I am very lucky to have his number and I look at it before every time we play,” Gawn said.

“And when it gets hard, it is still just a game of footy. Old mate Jim was drinking urine to help stay alive. I just have to play footy.

“So, is success winning a flag? Yeah it is.

“But it is also going through this caper with 45 unique guys, dealing with adversity, and coming out the other side as better people, and making your family proud.

“Yes, there are different versions of success.

“We have got a great team that is capable of playing some decent September footy.

“And I would really love us to get there.”

Originally published as Max Gawn on Jim Stynes, Melbourne’s midfield and the burden of leadership