![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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\u201cRight now, it looks like he is the biggest headache in the competition,\u201d Champion Data\u2019s Daniel Hoyne said on First Crack Preview.<\/p>\n
Gawn is currently rated the second best player in the competition \u2013 behind only Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli, and he\u2019s backed by a series of \u201cfrightening\u201d statistics.<\/p>\n
Gawn struggles for words after Dees win | 00:44<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re witnessing the greatest ruck season we\u2019ve seen,\u201d dual premiership Roo David King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone talks about Polly Framer and those guys \u2013 we didn\u2019t really see them in their prime. Nic Naitanui was probably the benchmark for us as to his impact on games \u2013 I think we\u2019re in a real sweet spot for ruckmen in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut no one does what Max does in every facet of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what changed in 2026? First Crack\u2019s analysts break down where Gawn has lifted.<\/p>\n
Max Gawn is having a career-best year at the age of 34.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
THE \u2018TEAM FIRST\u2019 MENTALITY<\/p>\n
The data shows Max Gawn is playing an average of five minutes less per game \u2013 which King admits \u201cdoesn\u2019t sound like a lot\u201d, but over the course of a season, it can be the difference come September.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s where in those games that he\u2019s getting the rest.<\/p>\n
Champion Data stats show that since Round 10, seven times Gawn has played less than 25 minutes in fourth quarters \u2013 compared to one last year, while playing more than 28 minutes just three times since Round 8 \u2013 compared to 13 last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe short quarters, he\u2019s had more shorter quarters on the ground in the last year \u2013 seven times less than 24.5 minutes this year,\u201d King shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhereas last year, he really only had one spell for the year \u2013 so they are managing him perfectly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe really long quarters are the ones we don\u2019t talk about, the ones that are almost 30 minutes plus \u2013 13 times last year and only three this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019ve made a conscious decision to put the team\u2019s needs before the individual\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the player has to buy into that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been \u2018team first\u2019 for Max Gawn.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
King described it as a \u201chard sell\u201d from coach Steven King to play back up ruck Max Heath for a six-week block.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at those six weeks in the Coach\u2019s Association votes, in the six weeks that Max Heath played, (Gawn) got 10 votes in six weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside of that, he\u2019s 64 votes in 11 weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s probably cost him a little bit of status and a little bit of personal glory \u2013 he\u2019s not going to win the Brownlow.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to be All Australian. He\u2019ll be the first nine-timer that we\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably won\u2019t be captain because Jordan Dawson is worthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo where do we recognise Max? Where does he get recognised this year for the outstanding season that we haven\u2019t seen before?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hoyne said given Steven King\u2019s background at the Geelong Football Club and their ability to rest players, Gawn was primed for a big finish to 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the Geelong background of trying to play the long game and actually try to set yourselves up for later on in the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey aren\u2019t in this position if Max isn\u2019t absolutely firing.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Melbourne) realise that come first week of finals if Max isn\u2019t absolutely cherry ripe, we\u2019re not going to be challenging the best. Right now, it looks like he is the biggest headache in the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Geelong Steven King, every year you talk about Danger\u2019s (Patrick Dangerfield) influence and how they are timing him for a finals tilt and then letting him explode \u2013 Max is the same,\u201d host Ben Dixon added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s probably ready to jump out of his skin!\u201d<\/p>\n
Lloyd Meek battles Dees big man Max Gawn in the ruck.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
CHAIN-HAPPY MAX<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only two players in the AFL who have been involved in more chains than Max Gawn in 2026 \u2013 Magpie Nick Daicos and Cat Bailey Smith.<\/p>\n
Gawn is involved in everything for Melbourne, with statistics showing he\u2019s in one of every four chains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the highest rated ruck season on record \u2013 and our rating systems goes back to 2010,\u201d Hoyne shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re in a position at the moment as an industry where the premiership team over the last 15 years or so \u2013 other than Max himself in 2021 have gotten by with a ruckman that\u2019s more combative, a competitor on the deck and a competitor aerially as well and we\u2019re going to bring you in through the trade system.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow with what (Brodie) Grundy and (Luke) Jackson and Max are actually doing they are all top 11 rated players in the competition \u2013 we\u2019ve never had three rucks in the top 11 rated players in the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at what Melbourne are doing from a clearance situation at the moment \u2013 top four in clearance work, their scores from clearance work is top two in the competition. It\u2019s easy just to bypass and go (Tom) Sparrow is going well, Kozzy (Pickett) is having a great year \u2013 it\u2019s Max!\u201d<\/p>\n
Max Gawn is having a career-best season.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
King says it\u2019s Gawn who sets the play up for the Dees repeatedly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of involving himself in every facet of the game, we don\u2019t have another ruckman doing that,\u201d he praised.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it be ball movement transition for Melbourne, stopping the opposition when their game stops, he\u2019s a major player at centre bounces or boundary throw ins or ball ups, at kick outs he\u2019s a weapon \u2013 whether they are kicking it to him or trying to get past him. Only two guys have more involvements in possession chains than Max, and it\u2019s Nick Daicos and Bailey Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at clearances, he\u2019s the same at clearance \u2013 only Brodie Grundy has more involvement from clearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s there in the top two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sydney’s Brodie Grundy and Melbourne’s Max Gawn do battle.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
THE MINDSET: \u2018GET BACK AND HELP EVERYONE OUT\u2019<\/p>\n
David King says the plan for opposition sides should be simple: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to stop kicking it to Max!\u201d<\/p>\n
Gawn is dominating the air in 2026 \u2013 in terms of ruck ranking, he\u2019s AFL best for intercepts and intercepts between the arcs.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also ranked second for intercept marks in D50 and contested marks between the arcs.<\/p>\n
And remarkably, he has 50 per cent MORE contested marks than any ruckman this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe laud Luke Jackson \u2013 he doesn\u2019t get back like Max does,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t do the work in the defensive 50 like Max does.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Gawn) is a contested marking beast.<\/p>\n
Max Gawn takes the mark in front of Ned Reeves.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cDarcy Cameron gets back \u2013 he\u2019s the one that does intercept marking more than Max in the D50. But that\u2019s probably all he does \u2013 he doesn\u2019t get forward as much as what Max does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dixon praised Gawn\u2019s athleticism as he gets from end to end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intercept marks \u2013 ruckmen don\u2019t do that because the play\u2019s going so fast \u2026 but he positions himself so well!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because he\u2019s so strong, he\u2019s hard to get past.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to marvel at what he can do and the way he can cover the ground \u2013 he\u2019s a big human.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the weekend (against Richmond at the MCG), it was wet, rainy \u2013 it wasn\u2019t his conditions and he just rolled the sleeves up, put himself in the right spots and brought ball to ground, played his role.\u201d<\/p>\n
With statistics showing Gawn has received the second most free kicks so far this season, King said it\u2019s time teams avoided the big man.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople can\u2019t compete with him \u2013 they chop him, they drag him, they grab him, they impact him at hit-outs \u2013 44 free kicks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no one having more influence on the game than Max, and he\u2019s a human stop sign!<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I see Max position himself down the line, I say don\u2019t kick it near him because he does everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m on watch with this \u2013 if you\u2019re dumb enough to do it we\u2019re going to highlight you over the next few weeks.\u201d
King praised the coaching of Collingwood\u2019s Craig McRae \u2013 who used his ruck Darcy Cameron in a defensive role on Gawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he\u2019s going to one side of the ground, you can\u2019t kick it near Max!\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood coaching, high level coach has seen this \u2013 and every now and then you see a couple of tactics and go OK, what\u2019s happening?<\/p>\n
Max Gawn is a \u2018human stop sign\u2019 in 2026 with his marking efforts.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cCameron and Collingwood said \u2018no, no we\u2019re going to drag Max out of the way as often as we can\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are trying to check him, bump him, annoy him \u2026 so that\u2019s going inside forward 50.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn kick outs, Darcy goes straight down the middle \u2013 if (Gawn) doesn\u2019t go to you, we\u2019re kicking it to you. But if he does, we\u2019re kicking it away from you. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what the competition need to see and need to assess.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the influence of Max.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile he doesn\u2019t get coaches votes, you spend half your week worrying he could ruin the game for you.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrag him \u2013 get him one side, and I\u2019ll go the other, don\u2019t care what side it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cMelbourne fans are in love with what Max has done for their footy club… I reckon we\u2019ve spoken about eight different players this year that they\u2019re the best player in the game \u2013 none of them have gone past Max.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s the 34-year-old star dominating the AFL. So just how good a season is Melbourne captain Max Gawn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-804831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}