RUCKMANMax Gawn says he’s determined to build on his impressive effort against the Hawksat the MCG on Saturday.
Althoughthe Demons went down by 50 points, the return and form of Gawn was a genuinepositive from the match. He had 15 touches, 18 hit outs and kicked 2.3 aftersome stellar form for Casey in the VFL.
Buthe said he needed to capitalise on his efforts for the rest of the season.
“I’vebeen doing that (playing well) in the VFL for a while now and I just can’t seemto make that next step, so I’ve got to bring my VFL footy into the AFL,” Gawntold Dee TV.
“Today(Saturday) was a good step forward and I’ve just got to keep doing what I’vebeen doing on the track.
“Imissed a lot of the start of the year and pre-season, so I’m actually feelingfresh at this time of the year, compared to a lot of the other blokes. I’ve gotto be driving the training standards – and I’m running pretty well during games– so since I’m feeling pretty fresh, I’ve got to be driving them.
“I’vehad one goodish game and I’ve got to do it against GWS now.”
Gawnsaid it was tough coming up against Hawthorn and “two quality ruckmen” in BenMcEvoy and David Hale, but added it was an invaluable experience to playagainst the brown and gold.
“You’vealways got to be switched on when they’ve got the ball, because they can kickit anywhere with the likes of [Matt] Suckling, [Grant] Birchall and [Josh]Gibson coming off half-back,” he said.
“Theycan kick it anywhere and one mistake and you’re done, so you’ve got to playpretty good footy and you’ve got to be on for the day.”
Theruckman/forward said Melbourne’s performance was “a hard game to assess” insome respects.
“Thefirst quarter we were in it and didn’t really take our chances. In the secondquarter, we gave them their goals and in the third and fourth we had to fight,but the damage was done in the second quarter,” he said.
“Wecould have fallen away in that second half and it [could have] been a 100-pointloss.
“It’snot a cop out and we’re not going to take a 50-point loss … so hopefully we cantake [second half] that into GWS.”
Gawnsaid coach Paul Roos was frustrated with several of players’ slow start, beforethey hit back in the second half.
“Therewere a couple of players not getting into it in the first half and they werecopping a spray at half-time and then they actually got into it,” he said.
“It[about] coming out in the first and second quarter and actually playing yourrole from the get-go and being in it at half-time, rather than trying to playcatch-up and that was his main message.”
