COACH Paul Roos says Sunday’s ruck contest between Max Gawn and North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein was “unbelievable”.

Gawn finished with 18 disposals, with all but one contested, while he had a massive 63 hit outs, kicked two goals and had four scoring assists. Goldstein finished with 19 touches, including 15 contested, plus had 38 hit outs and kicked five goals in his side’s nail-biting five-point win at Blundstone Arena.

It was a brilliant battle, which saw both players earn 172 ranking points from Champion Data. Goldstein got 10 AFLCA votes and Gawn got seven. They were regarded as the best two players on the ground.

Roos said it was the talk among his coaching staff.

“Our midfield coach said he hadn’t seen a ruck duel like that for many, many years – two ruckmen had such a significant impact on the game for both of their teams,” he said.

“We’ll look at why Todd kicked five and where Max can keep improving, but he’s young and he fought back really well after Goldstein kicked three in the first quarter.

“It was a great effort from both of them and they both had a significant impact on the game.”

After a tough start for Gawn, he hit back with a dominant second term.

“He got me early, kicking three in the first term,” he told Melbourne TV.

“Maybe old Max might not have fought back from that, so I’m proud of what I did and was able to fight back.

“I felt like I was getting the better of him a little bit towards the second half, so I got some help from my teammates, which was good and some learning going into next time I play him.”