WITH just five wins from 18 games in 2019, Melbourne’s season has never truly got going.
But despite the disappointment of the year, ruckman Max Gawn says the club will acknowledge its wrongdoings and learn from the mistakes.
“What we have to make sure that we do now, is that we don’t say, ‘We’re shocked’, or, ‘We don’t know what’s happening’, or, ‘We don’t believe this is happening’, because it is,” Gawn said on RSN Radio.
“It’s a trend, we’ve lost … 15 games this year, so we can’t just say, ‘I’m so surprised about what’s happened’, because we’re not surprised now.
“What’s happened has happened.”
Gawn is confident the group is still on the right track to success, but knows some difficult decisions will need to be made along the way.
“We think we’ve got the right personnel, but at the moment we’re playing like a side that should be 17th,” he said.
“There will be changes made throughout the next bit because you’ve got to delist four players every year to be able to draft four players.
“It will come to a pointy end, but at the moment you’d say when you’re 17th and playing like a 17th team, things have got to change.
“If that’s just the message, that’s the message, but if that’s personnel then it’ll be personnel as well.”
For a third consecutive week, the Demons were right in the game in Round 19, but showed an inability to close out the match against St Kilda, falling by 19 points.
“I’ve been incredibly frustrated over the last four or five weeks, and so has a lot of the team,” Gawn said.
“Come Tuesday or Wednesday you’re normally back up and going and thinking you can beat the best team in the competition, which is this week [against Richmond].
“But when you’re losing games that you’re in at every three quarter-time … it is disappointing, and that can happen with teams that lack confidence.”
Although the year hasn’t gone to plan, the Dees still have an opportunity to finish off the season on a high, with three home games coming up at the MCG.
“We’ve got four weeks left, which is good and bad, but we’re excited to play all these four games,” Gawn said.
“I’m presuming that all 21 of my teammates are feeling the same as me and want to have a fair dinkum crack.
“We’ve got a good chance to play a good brand of footy to finish off the year.”
