RUCKMAN Max Gawn says inconsistency hampered what was otherwise an encouraging season for Melbourne in 2016.

While 10 wins helped the club produce its best on-field performance since 2006, Gawn said learning how to capitalise on big moments would be a key takeaway for Melbourne’s young list.

“It’s been a better effort than previous years [but then] it’s almost been more disappointing than previous years,” he told Melbourne TV.

“We’ve been in a lot games and performed really well in games where we weren’t expected to and then lost games that we should have performed better in like those against Essendon and St Kilda.

“Even against some of the teams who played finals this year – we got close to the Crows, close to West Coast so it was disappointing that we didn’t get more wins and it was also a very disappointing finish to the year with the Carlton and Geelong games.”

Gawn said the knowledge that Melbourne can match it with the top clubs in the competition should spur on the players as they look to consolidate on 2016.

“We need to improve again and we need to grow as a group in big games and in big moments,” he said.

“We can pull it off once every four weeks and that obviously doesn’t go well in the AFL; the AFL spits you right back out if you don’t keep performing.

“We’ve got to go to those games we failed in this year and realise a big moment and then try to go from there.”

Despite some frustrating losses, the 24-year-old said there was still plenty for fans to like about Melbourne’s year.

“[Speaking] as a massive supporter of this club, we provided entertaining footy – that’s something you couldn’t put to Melbourne’s name for a long time,” he said.

"We had some big games like Queen's Birthday and the Sunday night Anzac Eve game [where] we played exciting footy and we took the game on.

"It's an exciting game to watch so we'll hopefully develop and keep going."

After completing his first ever pre-season at the start of the year, Gawn enjoyed an impressive 2016, averaging 42.2 hit outs per game and securing a spot in the 2016 All-Australian team.

"I knew deep down that after a good pre-season, there would be a chance I could play some good footy but I didn't think anything like this would happen," he said.

"I didn't think I could play 22 games in a row - basically without any help [in the ruck] - it's pretty hard and my body was feeling it towards the end so I know what I've got to work on next year.

"I'm very happy to have got through 22 games, we've got a good standard in there at times but there are still inconsistencies that came up in the middle part of the year and then we [also] faded off in the last two games as well."

Looking ahead to the pre-season, Gawn said the only way to top his 2016 season would be through improvement.

"You've got to be bigger, better, stronger, faster and fitter going into each year,” he said.

"I've already been challenged by a couple of ruckmen this year in the physical side of the contest - a couple were stronger than me, a couple were quicker, a couple were fitter so I already know what level I have to get to.”