Max Gawn lowered his colours in no uncertain terms last week in the heavyweight ruck battle with Tristan Xerri, a large reason why Melbourne got belted by the heretofore unheralded Kangaroos. Coach Simon Goodwin rolled out an excuse of a family illness, a disclosure which caused its own furore, but which may go some way to excusing Gawn's listlessness. We saw this story in opening round last campaign before he rebounded to deliver another elite season, so his owners will have fond memories of his resilience. A nervous hold for fantasy coaches at the moment.
Max Gawn lowered his colours in no uncertain terms last week in the heavyweight ruck battle with Tristan Xerri, a large reason why Melbourne got belted by the heretofore unheralded Kangaroos. Coach Simon Goodwin rolled out an excuse of a family illness, a disclosure which caused its own furore, but which may go some way to excusing Gawn's listlessness. We saw this story in opening round last campaign before he rebounded to deliver another elite season, so his owners will have fond memories of his resilience. A nervous hold for fantasy coaches at the moment.
Max Gawn has been a fantasy premium ruck for what seems like forever, forming part of a strong tandem in many coaches' ruck pairing with Brodie Grundy. Now that they both play for the same AFL team, many coaches have been looking elsewhere as ruck tandems can tend to kill scoring potential. The situation at Demonland is a bit different, however, as it appears Gawn is going to do a lot more work around the ground taking intercept marks and getting involved behind the ball. Are we foolishly talking ourselves out of an obvious champion?
Max Gawn spent three weeks out of the Melbourne side with a left ankle syndesmosis injury, returning last week in a loss to Geelong and looking short of a gallop. Fantasy coaches have had a lot of joy starting Big Maxy in their teams over the years, and they will be eyeing him off as an underpriced premium once his most recent scores push his price down. The trick is to know when to get back on board, as he is quite capable of roaring back at any moment with a monster score and fantasy coaches hate FOMO. When are you planning on trading him back in?
Max Gawn is being talked about in some fantasy circles as being expendable next season, the rise of Sean Darcy meaning a loss of faith in Gawn's premium status as part of the highly successful Grawndy tadem in fantasy football over the past few seasons. While it is true that the advent of Luke Jackson has lowered Gawn's ruck work somewhat, his elite stamina as a ruckman means that he can usually produce a premium score by the end of 120 minutes even if he doesn't always come out of the blocks at a sprint. An outing against Hawthorn should prove that.
Max Gawn is an integral part of the set-and-forget ruck combo for fantasy coaches, known as Grawndy as it is a tandem with Brodie Grundy. There are tempting rookie rucks on offer this year, most notably Matthew Flynn, but most fantasy coaches will stick with the double premium strategy even though the rest of your team looks a lot better when you move the money out of the ruck position. Gawn's early schedule is rather light, and even though there is talk of a timeshare with Luke Jackson, history tells us when the whips are cracking, big Maxy runs the show.
Gawn before he begins?
Thrice All-Australian goliath Max Gawn was able to produce a consistent season in a difficult year for the club. Receiving his second consecutive best and fairest award, the Dee produced career high disposal and mark averages while suffering a drop of six hit outs per outing. He suffered a grade two strain in a knee medial ligament in late January training, a severity level which usually implies a period of two months to heal. Many, many pixels will be lit up by speculation over Gawn's health leading into round 1, as that convalescence technically crosses past the Demons' opening game. The second highest fantasy ruck average after Brodie Grundy over the past two seasons, he would have been a top-six lock but this injury will frighten the horses. As preseason drags on, he will fall down draft boards. If no further setbacks occur, he's still worth a first-rounder.
Max Gawn was one of a select group of players to be named in an All-Australian side as a second ruckman, in a tandem with Brodie Grundy, and those two have help up most fantasy ruck divisions in salary cap fantasy competitions this year as well. Their head-to-head meeting last round resulted in a clear win to the Magpie in fantasy scores and hit outs - both by 15 - but Grundy gave away five frees in ruck and the Demons led clearances by five on the day, so perhaps it was a draw. This evening he has much lesser opposition to face, and should fill his boots.
Max Gawn has had an interesting off season following his record-breaking hit out total in 2018, with the recruitment of Braydon Preuss representing a threat to his lone ruck status. Whatever the plans might have been for Preuss, he was not selected for round 1 after a less than impressive preseason, and big Max remains unassailed as the dominant ruckman of the club, if not the league. He will be in a lot of fantasy teams and captain in a fair few, as he is usually a very reliable conveyance.
Gawn in 120 minutes
After a down year with some hamstring issues, Max Gawn went past his 2016 peak to lift Melbourne into finals last year and earn his second All-Australian jumper. He dominated the hit out rankings and was one of two rucks whose metres gained stat crested 200 per game. The only thing you could knock him on is a low amount of clearances, but his Demons ranked third as a team in that stat. He pushed his disposal rate to 16 from 85% game time, often dropping a kick behind the play. That last point is where all the speculation about Gawn is going into 2019, as Melbourne recruited Braydon Preuss in the off season and noises have been made about a tandem ruck situation similar to that of the two most recent grand finalists. Brodie Grundy is still a fantasy premium in that scenario, and Preuss is largely untested at the highest level, with question marks on his endurance. All eyes will be on those two in preseason; the most likely outcome is only a slight drop in Gawn's scoring.
Max Gawn has put his name in front of the selectors for All-Australian honours in 2018, after missing much of last year with injury. He still might be a bit iffy with set shots straight in front, as in that game-losing kick late in the Geelong game, but he's a past master at hit outs to advantage and does make himself very useful around the ground and in attack. His discounted price made him very attractive in salary cap leagues, leading to ownership of 50% to 75% in all three competitions.
Cox curse on big Max
The biggest fantasy bust of 2017, Max Gawn's value plummeted for two reasons: the hamstring injury mainly, as he never regained his 2016 form until late in the season; plus the other rucks taking more advantage of the lack of third men up. His year was summed up by the two Saints games: a clear victory over Tom Hickey in round 1, then lowering his colours to Billy Longer in round 21. Since the retirement of Dean Cox, no ruck has managed to stamp his authority as the best ruck in the game for more than a year at a time. Gawn is a prime candidate for a bounce back season in 2018, as none of the support rucks are much good and the Demons need him to carry them if they are to make finals. The much higher baseline for rucks this year means he only merits a middle round pick, nevertheless.
