THROUGH no fault of Max Gawn’s, the Demons fell to St Kilda by 19 points on Saturday night, and the ruckman was a shattered man in the aftermath at Marvel Stadium.

After trailing by just four points at the final change, Melbourne ran out of legs, conceding 19 inside 50s to just six in the last quarter, dropping another game from within its grasp.

“It’s just really, really disappointing,” Gawn told Melbourne Media post-game.

“To be fair, we probably weren’t there for a lot of the game today, even though the scoreboard was in our favour at times.

“I think the inside 50 count was heavily in their favour and we were just hanging on due to a couple of really good defensive efforts from Jakey Lever, Michael Hibberd, these sort of guys.”

The Demons have now lost three games in a row, but were in the hunt at stages in the second half in all of those matches.

“Is it pleasing that we’ve been in every game this year apart from maybe the GWS game? Maybe. But we can’t finish it off and it’s the most ultra-disappointing thing about it,” Gawn said.

“Our last quarters and backend of third quarters are right up there with the worst in the competition and it’s something we’re trying to improve.”

The Saints’ final quarter dominance stemmed from the midfield as they won the contested battle, but it was Melbourne’s turnovers that led to all five St Kilda goals in the last term.

“You’ve got to give that to St Kilda with their pressure,” Gawn said.

“I think the majority of players in our team can kick, and when there’s a little bit of pressure sometimes your kicks can go wayward.”

Similarly to the Round 5 result, St Kilda used its pace to hurt the Dees, getting out the back and damaging them on the counter attack.

“We know St Kilda are a really good sling shot team and when they get momentum, they’re really hard to stop,” Gawn said.

“We had some things that we thought would be able to cope with that, but unfortunately we weren’t able to execute, mainly around the ball.

“We lost our clearances which is something we pride ourselves on.

“The basics were gone today, probably from quarter one, so we can say we were in there in the fourth quarter, but we probably shouldn’t have been.”

It was another poor showing by the Demons in Round 19 as they recorded a 13^th loss for the season, but despite the club’s position, Gawn is not giving up.

“We’re going to keep playing,” he said.

“I’m definitely going to keep playing and I’m pretty sure my 21 teammates, or 45 on the list, are going to keep playing.

“There’s a lot of outside noise about not making finals and should we worry about putting people in off-season – there’s no chance that’s happening.

“We’re going to fight to the line and Richmond, Collingwood, both at the ’G, is right at the forefront of our mind now.”

Individually, Gawn was a standout for his side, monstering young ruckman Rowan Marshall with 40 hit-outs and 18 disposals.