RUCKMAN Max Gawn says it was a relief to get the monkey off the back, after Melbourne defeated North Melbourne for the first time since round 20, 2006 at the MCG on Saturday.
In the process, the Demons ended a 17-match losing streak – of which Gawn had played in five losses – when the red and blue achieved a 37-point victory.
Gawn said it was inevitable to have poor records against opposition teams, when the club had struggled in recent years, but he was rapt to end, what was the current longest losing streak.
“When you’ve been a poor club for a long time, there is hoodoos,” he told Melbourne Media.
“Unfortunately, and especially over the last two years, we’ve had to break to a lot of these hoodoos and it’s not something we enjoy doing – we enjoy breaking them, but not being involved in the hoodoos.
“I think that’s the last one. We don’t have many more to really knock off, so it’s good to get out there and beat North. North is a quality side and we were favourites, but you’ve still got to get out there and do it.
“They’ve got some quality inside mids – Benny Jacobs tagged ‘Clarry’ (Clayton Oliver) out of the game, until the last quarter, and Ben Brown [kicked four goals] up forward, so it was a pretty tough game.”
Gawn said he wasn’t worried at all when North kicked the first four goals of the match.
“It looked a little bit worrying, but we’d been involved in four games – round one and two, and the two JLT (Community Series) games, and all of them we’ve had a poor quarter,” he said.
“Brisbane, we got over the panic, but against Geelong we were in a panic for way too long. We didn’t panic [against North Melbourne] and there weren’t any signs of panicking going on – that could’ve been an eight or nine-goal quarter and it wasn’t.
“I’m proud of the guys for getting back into it, and at quarter-time we were only down by 13 points, and then we came back and played our footy in the second quarter.”
Gawn was outstanding yet again, with 50 hit outs, 18 disposals and six marks, but he wasn’t happy with one area of his game.
“[I gave away] four free kicks against, which was something I’m working on,” he said.
“My arms can get a little bit flimsy at times, so I’ve got to be better than that. It’s good to get a good start. This time last year, I tore my hammy off the bone, so I’m a half better than last year at the moment, which is good.”
Gawn performed well against North's tall trio of Goldstein, Brown and Daw
Despite his form, Gawn said there was quality ruckmen across the competition and it was a challenge to play against them each week.
“I’ve got to keep this momentum going – I’ve got good rucks every week,” he said.
“[Next up is Hawthorn’s Ben] McEvoy, [then Richmond’s Toby] Nankervis, so it’s exciting to be a ruckman. There are 18 good ruckmen at the moment.”
Gawn was also pleased with teammates Tom Bugg and Dean Kent, who kicked four and three goals respectively.
“Both of them I’m very proud of – Buggy and Kenty. Buggy, for obvious reasons, to get back into the side and to beat Tom McDonald in the three-km time-trial and grabbing respect out on the track and then coming here and doing what he does.”
“He played a good role on Luke Hodge last week and Kenty’s had some battles last year and throughout the pre-season as well, and he’s really turned the corner.
“To see him play like that today, I made sure I got to every single one of his goals to celebrate, because he’s been through a lot and to get him out there was super.”
Overall, Gawn said the win was a representation of where the club is at, with several quality players missing out on selection.
“The most exciting bit is what happened on Thursday night at team selection,” he said.
“We had to make changes and there are some guys – some really good, in-form players that are missing out. Tom McDonald and Jack Viney are still out injured, so it’s a pretty exciting time to be involved in our club.
“Unfortunately there are some guys missing out, who would rather be playing than at Coburg on Sunday, but that’s where our list is at the moment and that’s exciting.”
