Finals mettle, not the medal
MAX Gawn says Melbourne is not bothered by a poor record against top-eight sides, but says only a big scalp will propel the Demons towards finals.
The charismatic big man has moved to outright second favourite ($6) behind Hawthorn midfielder Tom Mitchell ($2.40) in TAB’s Brownlow Medal market after his all-round brilliance against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday.
But he insisted finals for the sixth-placed Demons, not Charlie, was driving him.
Asked if he thought he was in Brownlow Medalwinning form, Gawn said with a laugh: “It’s a great question. I don’t necessarily think so.
“I’ll give you a bit of a cliche line — we don’t play footy for the individual awards and it’s certainly not at the forefront of my mind.
“We’ve got six weeks to potentially play my first finals game, so that’s what’s in the forefront of my mind.”
Gawn, who yesterday helped launch the Demons’ Field of Women game — against Sydney on August 12 — in support of Breast Cancer Network Australia, said Saturday’s night’s clash with Geelong at GMHBA Stadium was a chance to push the Demons’ finals agenda.
“We don’t think we need a big scalp to call ourselves a team, but we definitely need one in the next six weeks otherwise we’re not going to make finals because we’ve got pretty much six or five of the biggest scalps coming up,” he said.
“Geelong’s a good start, but it’s going to be a pretty hot game.”
Melbourne captain Nathan Jones said Gawn was “100 per cent” in Brownlow Medal-winning form.
Gawn expressed sympathy for fellow ruckman Nic Naitanui, who will soon have surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Gawn has had two knee reconstructions.
“You definitely feel for Nic Nat, he’s a star of the competition. Not having him for potentially 18 months is something that we’ll all miss,” he said.
“You’ve got to surround yourself with stuff that you enjoy and get bigger, stronger, fitter and keep mentally strong.”