| Max Gawn | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Gawn playing for Melbourne in April 2025 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Max Gawn | ||
| Born | (1991-12-30)30 December 1991 (age 33) | ||
| Original team | Sandringham Dragons (TAC Cup) | ||
| Draft | No. 34,2009 national draft | ||
| Debut | Round 11, 2011,Melbourne vs.Essendon, atMCG | ||
| Height | 209 cm (6 ft 10 in) | ||
| Weight | 111 kg (245 lb) | ||
| Position | Ruck | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Melbourne | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2010– | Melbourne | 247 (115) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2025 season. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Max Gawn (born 30 December 1991) is a professionalAustralian rules footballer playing for theMelbourne Football Club in theAustralian Football League (AFL). Aruckman, 209 cm tall and weighing 111 kg, Gawn is capable of contributing in both the ruck andforward line. Abasketballer andrugby union player at a young age, he pursued his career in Australian rules football and was drafted to the Melbourne Football Club with the thirty-fourth selection in the2009 AFL draft. He made his AFL debut in the2011 AFL season. Knee and hamstring injuries hampered his first four seasons in the AFL before he moved into the number-one ruck position at Melbourne in 2015 along with selection for the2016 All-Australian team. Gawn was named as Melbourne's captain at the start of the2020 AFL season, and in2021 led the club to itsfirst premiership since1964.[1]
Born in Australia to parents Sandra (of New Zealand) and Robert (of New Zealand, and formerSouth Island rugby representative player[2]) who migrated to Australia as young adults[3] they moved Max toGreymouth on the South Island of New Zealand at the age of 3. A few years later, his parents settled permanently inMelbourne.[4][5] Following his father's recommendation, he playedrugby union in Under-10s for Powerhouse RUFC inAlbert Park, Victoria.[6] He also playedbasketball as a junior.Australian rules football was his number-one sport.[7] He attendedMcKinnon Secondary College[3] and played his junior career with theOrmond Football Club.[8] In 2009, he played with theSandringham Dragons in theTAC Cup and played the first three matches of the year before tearing hisanterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the match against theGeelong Falcons atSkilled Stadium.[3] He was initially selected in Victoria Metro's squad for the2009 AFL Under-18 Championships, but he missed the entire championships due to his knee injury.[7]
Gawn was recruited by theMelbourne Football Club with their fifth selection and thirty-fourth overall in the2009 national draft.[9] At the time of the draft, he was the second-tallest player in the league, at 208 cm, behindAaron Sandilands at 211 cm.[10] After undergoing surgery in 2009 to repair hisACL,[11] he missed the majority of the2010 season.[12][13] He played a few matches at the end of the season for Melbourne'saffiliate team, theCasey Scorpions, in theVFL Development League.[14] After strong performances in the VFL for Casey in the first half of 2011,[14] he made his AFL debut in the 33-point win againstEssendon at theMelbourne Cricket Ground in Round 11,[15] where he played primarily as a forward and recorded eight disposals, ten hitouts and two behinds.[16] For his debut match, he had the number 37 jumper presented to him by1991 Brownlow Medallist,Australian Football andMelbourne hall of famer,Jim Stynes, who wore the same guernsey number in his first season.[17] He played in the next two matches before being omitted for the round fourteen match.[18] He returned to the senior side for the 76-point loss againstCarlton at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Round 20,[19] but he was dropped the next week[20] and managed just four matches in his debut season.[21]
During the 2012 pre-season, Gawn suffered a knee injury, which was initially suspected as ameniscus tear in his right knee,[22] but it was ultimately a tear in both his meniscus and ACL, which forced him to miss the entire2012 season.[23] He had a delayed start to the2013 season when he suffered a hamstring injury during the pre-season,[24] and he was placed on the long-term injury list in January.[25] He played his first match in 18 months when he played for Casey in a VFL pre-season match in late March.[26] He played his first AFL match for the season in Round 4, where he kicked two final-quarter goals to help Melbourne defeatGreater Western Sydney by 41 points at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when they were down by three goals at three-quarter time.[27] He played the next five matches before being omitted for the Round 10 match againstHawthorn.[28] He returned to the senior side for the three-point win against theWestern Bulldogs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Round 14.[29] He played seven of the remaining ten matches for the season and finished with 13 in total.[30]
During the 2014 season, along with playing for Melbourne, Gawn returned to his junior club, theOrmond Football Club, to co-coach their division two team in theVictorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA).[8] He also began acarpentry business called Max Jones & Co alongside then-Melbourne teammates,Matt Jones and Max King, producing tables.[31] He played his first AFL match for the year in the 17 point win againstRichmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round nine.[32] In July, while playing for Casey in the VFL, he amassed eighty hitouts againstBendigo which broke the record for the most hitouts in a VFL match.[33] He played in the final four AFL matches of the season finishing with nine in total.[34] He suffered a knee injury in the final match of the year againstNorth Melbourne atEtihad Stadium, although he avoided an ACL tear, he still required surgery for the third time on his right knee.[35] His season with the Casey Scorpions, in which he played eight matches, was rewarded with the Gardner Clark Medal for the clubbest and fairest[36] and the Broadbridge Medal, which is awarded to the best Melbourne-listed player at Casey.[37] At the end of the season he switched guernsey numbers from 37 to 11, the same numbers Melbourne hall of famer and former ruckman, Jim Stynes, wore during his career.[38]
Gawn played in the VFL for the Casey Scorpions in the first half of the2015 VFL season, before playing his first senior match for the 2015 AFL season in the 25-point loss againstCollingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the annualQueen's Birthday clash in Round 10.[39] In his third match for the season, he helped Melbourne secure a 24-point win againstGeelong atSimonds Stadium in Round 12, the club's first win inGeelong since 2005,[40] where he recorded 44 hitouts, 19 disposals, eight marks (six contested), five tackles and a goal.[41] He was highly praised for the match in which the media called it the best match of his career to that point;[42][43][44] he also earned the maximum threeBrownlow votes for the match.[45] He did not miss a match for the remainder of the season, playing thirteen in total,[46] and he was labelled the most improved ruckman in the league for the season byFox Sports Australia journalist Ben Waterworth.[47] He was rated as an elite tap ruckman by Champion Data, winning 49 percent of contests, and elite for marks and intercept marks by a ruckman.[48] In November, he signalled his intentions to become the best ruckman in the AFL.[49][50]
After strong form in the 2016 pre-season,[51] Gawn was added to Melbourne's leadership group.[52] In the Round 3 match against North Melbourne atBlundstone Arena, he lined up against the2015 All-Australian ruckman,Todd Goldstein; the contest drew high attention from the media,[53][54][55] in which Gawn recorded 63 hitouts, the fourth-highest total for an AFL match at the time.[56] His rise in the first half of the2016 season led commentators to question whether he had become the best ruckman in the league and if he would be theAll-Australian ruckman.[57][58][59][60][61] In the Queen's Birthday game, Melbourne recorded a 46-point win against Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; Gawn was awarded theNeale Daniher trophy as the best player on the ground, in which he recorded a career-best 27 disposals, along with three goals, six marks and 31 hitouts.[62]
Apart from his tapwork, Gawn's ability to kick goals and take contested marks drew the attention of the media with many predicting he would be the All-Australian ruckman after his form continued in the second half of the season.[63][64][65][66] In particular, his match in the twenty-nine-point win againstHawthorn in round twenty, where he recorded eight contested marks, which saw Hawthorn coach,Alastair Clarkson, note that "his second half was one of the best halves of footy by a ruckman [he'd] seen in a long time".[67]Fox Sports Australia journalist, Tom Morris, noted in August that Gawn had achieved his goal of becoming the best ruckman in the competition set the previous November.[67] His rapid rise saw him move from 295th at the start of the season to twelfth at the end of the home and away season in the AFL official player ratings.[68] He played all matches for the season and finished with the most hitouts in the league with 928 and averaged 42.2 per game,[69] he also broke the record for the most hit-outs to advantage in a season with 314.[70]
Gawn was named in theAFL Media team of the week eight times,[71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78] and his season was ultimately rewarded with selection in the2016 All-Australian team as the ruckman.[79] Furthermore, he was named in theAFL Media team of the year,[80] theAFL Coaches Association team of the year[81] and several commentators within the industry teams of the year, includingHerald Sun head of football writer,Mark Robinson's;[82]The Age journalistRohan Connolly's;[83] and former players,Jonathan Brown's[84] andCameron Mooney's.[85] After heading into the best and fairest as the heavy favourite,[86] he ultimately finished third behindJack Viney andNathan Jones, winning the Ron Barassi Senior Memorial Trophy[87] in addition to the Norm Smith Memorial Trophy (coaches award) and James McDonald Trophy (heart and spirit award).[88] He was recognised as one of the best players in the league by his peers when he finished equal-fourth in theLeigh Matthews Trophy for theAFL Players Associationmost valuable player alongsideEddie Betts ofAdelaide.[89] Furthermore, he was the highest-polling ruckman in theBrownlow Medal count[90] and Melbourne's highest-polling player, scoring 16 votes.[91]
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After Gawn's All-Australian year in 2016, external expectations on him were high, especially with the third-man ruck rule change—whereby only the two nominated ruckman were allowed to compete in the ruck—withFox Footy personality and former player,David King, saying Gawn would relish in the rule change and "take his game to another level."[92] Furthermore, he was named inside the top twenty players heading into the2017 season byAFL Media[93] and was touted as "undoubtedly one of the game’s finest and most influential players" byFox Sports Australia's Riley Beveridge.[94] His season was recognised internally too as he was retained in Melbourne's leadership group for the 2017 season.[95]
In the opening round match againstSt Kilda at Etihad Stadium, Gawn recorded 49 hitouts and led Melbourne to the 30-point win, according to theHerald Sun's Lauren Wood.[96]The Age journalistRohan Connolly furthered this notion by saying Gawn's dominance over St Kilda ruckmanTom Hickey was crucial in the victory with his service leading to winning the clearance count.[97] He was named inAFL Media's team of the week,[98] andAFL Media's Nathan Schmook stated Gawn would have a dominant season based on his performance in the opening round.[99] He played the first three matches of the year before sustaining a serious hamstring injury during the second quarter of the 29-point loss against Geelong at Etihad Stadium in Round 3; the injury required surgery and he was initially ruled out for 12 weeks.[100] He ultimately missed ten weeks of football and returned directly to the AFL in the three-point win againstWest Coast atDomain Stadium in Round 14.[101]
Following his return from injury, Gawn struggled to recapture his form from the previous season and early in the season, and by his own admission, he said that he wasn't back to the speed of the game due to his long-term injury.[102] In addition, his form was further affected when his ruck technique was scrutinised by the field umpires during the twenty-four-point win against St Kilda at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round twenty-one, in which he was giving away several free kicks for which "[Gawn] had never given away in [his] life" and he consequently conceded ruck contests so he wouldn't give away free kicks.[103] After the head of umpiring, Hayden Kennedy, explained "if there is a straight arm by one of the players, when the other player is contesting the footy, that's when it becomes a free kick," Gawn was forced to adapt his ruck technique.[104] He played every match following his return from injury to finish with thirteen matches and signed a contract extension in October, tying him to the club until the end of 2021.[105]
He played every match in2018, including three finals, to finish with 25 matches for the season; his season was rewarded with his first clubbest and fairest winning theKeith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy with 657 votes.[106]
In 2019, Gawn won his second consecutive best-and-fairest award (tying with teammateClayton Oliver) and claimed his third All-Australian selection.
Gawn was madecaptain of the Melbourne Football Club prior to the2020 AFL season,[107] a year where the Demons narrowly missed out on finals.[108]
The2021 season started well for Gawn's Demons, winning their first nine games and remaining on top of the ladder for most of the season. In the lead up to the2021 finals series, Melbourne needed to defeatGeelong at theirhome ground. After trailing by as much as seven goals, Gawn led the comeback which culminated in a mark and shot at goalafter the siren to give Melbourne theminor premiership for the first time since 1964. Following Gawn's victory over Geelong, he backed up his performance against the same opponent a few weeks later in the 2021 preliminary final, kicking a career-best five goals.[109]
On 25 September 2021, Gawn captained Melbourne to its first AFL premiership in 57 years. TheGrand Final win was marked by an extraordinary turn-around beginning withCaleb Daniel of theWestern Bulldogs slamming Gawn into the hard turf ofOptus Stadium.[110] The dangerous act, which left Gawn uninjured, sparked a momentum shift which led the Demons to a huge 74-point victory.[111] Gawn's leadership and ruck dominance resulted in him being named theAll-Australian captain for2021.
The Melbourne captain had another year of personal success in2024. Despite his club not making finals for the first time since 2020, Gawn was named in theAll-Australian team for the seventh time, the most by any ruckman in history as well as the most by any Demons player.[112]
Gawn returned to career-best form in2025, winning his secondFrank 'Checker' Hughes Medal againstRichmond and collecting a personal-best 35 disposals againstWest Coast the following week, reaffirming himself as the competition's best ruckman.[113] Gawn's longevity has begun discussions about the greatest AFL ruckmen of all time, with formerEssendon ruckSimon Madden noting that Gawn "is getting on, but he’s still playing great footy".[114] At the end of the 2025 season, Gawn was named in the All-Australian team for a record equalling eighth time.
Updated to the end of 2025.[115]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks | H/O | Hit-outs |
# | Played in that season's premiership team | † | Led the league for the season |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | H/O | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | H/O | |||||
| 2010 | Melbourne | 37 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2011 | Melbourne | 37 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 14 | 29 | 12 | 12 | 65 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 7.3 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 16.3 | 0 |
| 2012 | Melbourne | 37 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2013 | Melbourne | 37 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 48 | 68 | 116 | 38 | 31 | 242 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 3.7 | 5.2 | 8.9 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 18.6 | 0 |
| 2014 | Melbourne | 37 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 39 | 56 | 95 | 38 | 11 | 133 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 4.4 | 6.2 | 10.6 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 14.8 | 0 |
| 2015 | Melbourne | 11 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 72 | 104 | 176 | 58 | 29 | 485 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 5.5 | 8.0 | 13.5 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 37.3 | 4 |
| 2016 | Melbourne | 11 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 154 | 164 | 318 | 91 | 80 | 928† | 0.7 | 0.5 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 14.5 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 42.2† | 16 |
| 2017 | Melbourne | 11 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 77 | 83 | 160 | 46 | 36 | 466 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 12.3 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 35.8 | 3 |
| 2018 | Melbourne | 11 | 25 | 13 | 12 | 204 | 192 | 396 | 113 | 57 | 1119† | 0.5 | 0.5 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 15.8 | 4.5 | 2.3 | 44.8† | 20 |
| 2019 | Melbourne | 11 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 253 | 119 | 372 | 102 | 51 | 829 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 12.0 | 5.7 | 17.7 | 4.9 | 2.4 | 39.5 | 17 |
| 2020[a] | Melbourne | 11 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 142 | 80 | 222 | 63 | 35 | 458 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 10.1 | 5.7 | 15.9 | 4.5 | 2.5 | 32.7† | 13 |
| 2021# | Melbourne | 11 | 25 | 16 | 17 | 316 | 147 | 463 | 131 | 71 | 804† | 0.6 | 0.7 | 12.6 | 5.9 | 18.5 | 5.2 | 2.8 | 32.2 | 16 |
| 2022 | Melbourne | 11 | 22 | 13 | 14 | 287 | 130 | 417 | 122 | 40 | 596 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 13.0 | 5.9 | 19.0 | 5.5 | 1.8 | 27.1 | 12 |
| 2023[b] | Melbourne | 11 | 22 | 10 | 14 | 228 | 144 | 372 | 102 | 44 | 565 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 10.4 | 6.5 | 16.9 | 4.6 | 2.0 | 25.7 | 7 |
| 2024 | Melbourne | 11 | 21 | 11 | 9 | 235 | 166 | 401 | 110 | 54 | 713 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 11.2 | 7.9 | 19.1 | 5.2 | 2.6 | 34.0 | 13 |
| 2025 | Melbourne | 11 | 23 | 6 | 15 | 237 | 240 | 477 | 131 | 50 | 826 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 10.3 | 10.4 | 20.7 | 5.7 | 2.2 | 35.9 | 23 |
| Career | 247 | 115 | 117 | 2307 | 1707 | 4014 | 1157 | 602 | 8227 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 9.2 | 6.6 | 16.3 | 4.7 | 2.4 | 33.3 | 144 | ||
Notes
Team
Individual
