FORWARD line coach Dan McPherson is optimistic big man Max Gawn can finish off the 2014 season strongly, given his impressive return to the Melbourne line-up last round.

Gawn booted 2.3 and had 18 hit outs, switching well between the two roles, after producing some stunning form for Casey in the VFL. McPherson said the final three rounds were a great opportunity for Gawn to reproduce his form from last week and build on his impressive return.

“I thought Max Gawn did a really good job coming back into the team,” he told Dee TV.

“When he was in the team earlier in the year, his ruck work was really good, but we weren’t getting a lot out of him forward.

“I thought on the weekend he gave us a real contest and Russian also gave us a contest when he was forward as well. I think they covered Pedo’s absence pretty well.”

McPherson said Gawn simply forced his way back into the senior team, after his efforts for the Scorpions couldn’t be ignored. 

“He’s had a super month in the VFL team, which is what earned him his game again last week,” he said.

“He continued that form [last round against Hawthorn]. He was able to catch the ball and at least bring the ball to ground, if he wasn’t catching it. He was giving us a real contest.

“Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to kick more of his goals, but having five shots for goal and presenting – and giving us a target – he’s such a big bloke. If he can stand his ground and get the arms up, he’s really difficult to defend against.

“He’s back in the team and he’s in good form, so we’re hoping now he can really finish off the year strongly.”

McPherson said the Melbourne forwards had a mixed performance last round, which needed to be rectified in the remaining matches. 

“We had a few opportunities [last week], but again, our goalkicking really let us down,” he said.

“We’re starting to create more scoring opportunities … it’s really important that when we get those chances, we take the most of them.”

But he said the team had “another pretty solid review after the Hawthorn game” with a strong focus on maximising the rest of 2014.

“Although we lost by 50 points, we thought the effort was better this week,” he said.

“We were really disappointed with the Brisbane game and we were still disappointed with the Hawthorn performance, but we thought there were more positives to take out of that.

“The review gain was pretty honest and the boys were pretty good in their assessment of their performance individually and as a team. We’ll take those points that we spoke about into this week’s game.”

Meanwhile, McPherson said young-gun Jesse Hogan had been impressive on the track.

“He’s had a really good three or four weeks training and we’ve eased him back into it. He’s had no dramas with his body, so his back has recovered really well,” he said.

“It’s been a long process, but once he’s been back out on the track, he’s attacked that really well. He’s trained really well and he’ll probably get eased back into the VFL this week and hopefully he gets through fine.

“Expectations are not great for him – it’s more about if he does get through the rest of the week training and he gets a run around on the weekend, it’ll be great for him.”