3 minute read

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin had decided to pull Max Gawn out of the St Kilda clash because of concerns over a sore calf before the ruckman's dominant display.

Melbourne captain Max Gawn has revealed Simon Goodwin had made the call to pull him out of the round-11 clash with St Kilda before he convinced the coach otherwise.

Gawn was at his dominant best against the Saints on Sunday, racking up 34 hit-outs, 27 disposals, 10 clearances, seven marks and a goal in a 38-point victory that lifted the Demons back into the AFL's top four.

But the imposing ruck master almost didn't play, having woken up with a sore calf after it was corked in a loss to West Coast the previous week.

Gawn passed a fitness test with high-performance boss Selwyn Griffith on the MCG an hour before the match.

"In my head, I was playing no matter what - so I didn't understand what the hysteria was," Gawn told Triple M Melbourne on Monday.

"But then I worked out I wasn't playing, so that's what the hysteria was.

"Goody had made the decision that he wasn't going to risk me."

Despite passing the fitness test, Gawn still had to clear one more hurdle when he was confronted by Goodwin in the change room before the match.

"I get downstairs and (Goodwin) is involved in a different conversation with the coaches about pulling me (out of the game)," Gawn said.

"He comes right up in my face, like nose-to-nose sort of stuff, and he goes, 'Are you ready to perform?'.

"I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I'm ready to get out of here'. And he goes, 'No, no, no. Are you ready to perform?'.

"That's all I heard in the first 10 minutes (of the game); in the back of my head was Goody, 'Are you ready to perform?'.

"It clearly worked."

Gawn produced a best-afield display in a win that improved Melbourne's season record to 7-4, ending a two-game losing skid in the process.

The Demons sit fourth ahead of a clash with ninth-placed Fremantle (6-4-1) in Alice Springs on Sunday.