RUCKMAN Max Gawn remains optimistic that Melbourne can continue to cover key personnel, with co-captain Jack Viney suffering a foot injury during Melbourne’s loss to Sydney Swans at the MCG on Friday night.

Although Gawn was disappointed with the 35-point loss, he put Melbourne's first defeat since its round nine loss to North Melbourne on May 21 in perspective.

“We think we can beat any team, any day, anywhere – we’ve just got to bring our style of football and we didn’t – Sydney did. That’s how you get losses because you go away from what got you there (fifth on the ladder) and Sydney are a good side,” he told Melbourne TV.

“We have been struck by injury a lot – Bernie [Vince] and Lewy (Jordan Lewis) early with suspension, Hoges (Jesse Hogan) throughout the year, myself throughout the year, and now Wattsy (Jack Watts), Jonesy (Nathan Jones), Jeffy [Garlett], and potentially [Jack] Viney.

“But the VFL guys have won five in a row now, and we saw with [Josh] Wagner and [Mitch] White, that they can come in and play a role for the team. We’ve got a few more players [at Casey] and we’ve just got to pick another solider. I won’t be worried until we’ve only got 20 to pick from, but until then we will pick someone else and keep going.”

Gawn, who made his comeback in last round’s epic win over the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium, after 10 weeks out with a hamstring injury, said it was tough backing up.

“[I had] a little bit of the second week blues to be honest. With rehab, it’s a very interesting process where you run a lot, so I would have done 10 weeks of running laps, but when it comes down to body contact, you’re not doing too much,” he said.

“I was probably a little bit off, in terms of my ruck work. He is a big boy Sammy Naismith and he rucked pretty well. I copped a few knocks, but that brings you into the game a little bit. I actually colided heads with Zac Jones, which sent him off with the blood rule, but my head was ok, so I must have big melon.

“To be honest, it was a bit difficult for me. I felt my legs were good; I just wasn’t ready for that body contact. I’ve been doing one on ones with our physio for the past 12 weeks, who is not AFL standard so I’ve got to find something against Carlton because it will get even harder for me.”

Gawn said the Swans were simply too good on the night, but he was confident Melbourne would bounce back quickly.

“The thing with this group, is that we’ve been up, so it’s not going to take a long time to get back up again,” he said.

“We’ve got a nine-day break, after we’ve had a few six-day breaks in a row, so we get the weekend off to recover the best we can and take on Carlton.”