RUCKMAN/forward Max Gawn says Melbourne can ill afford to let Fremantle off to a flyer at TIO Stadium on Saturday night, like it did against the Bulldogs last round.
Gawn said it was imperative that the Demons start strongly against Freo or it could get ugly.
“Freo are a benchmark team of the competition, so it’ll be a good challenge,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“It was a poor start and the Bulldogs jumped us last round. I don’t care who you are – six goals down halfway through the second quarter is going to be hard to win.”
“Personally, me and Russian got jumped by [Will] Minson at the start – he started quite well, but I think we got the better of him in the last three quarters, as it was tough for Minson, as he was up against two ruckmen.
“My personal game, I’d like to think I’ve got a lot more to give, but I’m glad I’m starting to clunk a few around the ground, and I kicked a nice little running goal as well.”
Gawn said he enjoyed playing in the Northern Territory – except one thing – the flight for a player who is 208cm.
“It’s another two hours to get to Darwin than Alice Springs, so it’s a bit longer on the plane and I don’t usually sit well on planes with my longer legs. But apart from that, it should be a great challenge in the conditions,” he said.
“I played there last year and it is definitely hot.
“But once you’re up there and [get acclimatised] to the conditions, I can actually cope with the conditions quite well.”
Meanwhile, away from the game, Gawn is coaching the Ormond under 16s and working on his carpentry skills with professional chippy Matt Jones.
“I’ve got a nice partnership with Matt Jones and we’ve built a couple of tables,” he said.
“So that’s going well, but I’m also coaching the Ormond under 16s and we’re doing quite well – we’ve won three in a row.
“The game last weekend, I wasn’t there, because I was playing inside at Etihad Stadium and they were playing in the pouring rain at Prahran Oval. But they got the win and they’ve got finals in three weeks.”
Gawn said coaching the youngsters was a great opportunity to learn some new skills and take his mind away from the pressures of the AFL.
“It’s really good. It takes you away from the club and the [Ormond] boys definitely let you know how you’re going,” he said with a laugh.
“After the Port Adelaide game, I split the team into red and yellow bibs at training and I put the yellow bib on to help out the numbers. One of the boys mentioned that I should’ve been in the red team because I put the red one on that particular weekend, so they just let me know that I was wearing the red vest.”
Gawn said he had previously done some coaching courses, which led him into local football.
“I probably do want to coach later on, but this is just a bit of fun at the moment and it helps take the mind away from the club,” he said.
“It’s good to help out. It’s good to get back to Ormond, where I played as a junior and to help out the club. The opportunity arose and I thought why not?”
