If you were to look at Melbourne captain Max Gawn's stats from Sunday's victory over St Kilda, you wouldn't think he was in doubt before the game began.
But that was the case.
Reeling from a corked calf in the loss to West Coast last week, Gawn was put through his paces on the MCG.
Max Gawn doing a genuine fitness test right now at the G, his calf has a pillow strapped to it 😬#AFLFantasy #SuperCoach pic.twitter.com/mfAUhZJlOx
— Jasper Chellappah (@Jasperc53) May 26, 2024
With his calf heavily strapped and the skipper labouring on the ground just over an hour from the first bounce, coach Simon Goodwin was ready to pull the pin, noting he wouldn't "risk" the six-time All-Australian in his post-match press conference.
However, on the Triple M Marty Sheargold Show, Gawn revealed how the pre-game process went down, citing a humorous moment between himself and the coach.
"It was a weird sort of day," Gawn admitted.
"I got cork in my calf during the West Coast game the week before and took a while to get over.
"I sent a text to our high-performance staff saying 'I've woken up a bit sore'.
"Fitness tests can't be discreet, unfortunately, because you got to do it on the oval. I'm not going to do the fitness test downstairs in the sheds."
After being ticked off by the medicos and given the green light to take the field, Gawn's next task was convincing his coach he was ready.
It looked for a while like Max Gawn wouldn't play due to a tight calf...
Instead, he's discovered a new element to his pre-game routine 😅 pic.twitter.com/NckVwKcpM1
— 7AFL (@7AFL) May 26, 2024
"The conversation with 'Goody' was hilarious," Gawn said.
"I've gone out and had a really good 10-15 minutes with our high-performance coach and we had a great chat, positive chat, and Goody wasn't involved in that.
"So I get downstairs, he's obviously involved with a different conversation with the coaches about pulling me and the first thing (he says) is: 'Are you ready to perform?'
"I'm ready to get out there", Gawn answered, to which Goodwin repeated himself once again.
"And that's all I heard for the first 10 minutes (of the game)."
Ruck
Hit Outs
Marks
Disposals
Gawn put all fears of an injury aside as he set the standard in Melbourne's seventh victory of the season.
The two-time Keith 'Bluey' Truscott medallist was arguably best afield on Sunday, continuing his impressive stretch of form.
Goodwin shared the same story in the post-match press conference.
"He wasn't in doubt - he just woke up a little bit tight," Goodwin said.
"And we would never take a risk with Max Gawn. If he wasn't right to play, he wouldn't play. We were pretty adamant on that and wanted to make sure there was no risk at all in Max's mind. So we put him through a little test ... and he passed with flying colours.
"He said 'coach, I'm 100 per cent'. I said, 'mate, I'm not playing you'. And he said, 'nope, I'm 100 per cent'. So we played him.
"He played well, and that typifies the leader he is. He knew it was an important week for us to get right and he stepped up.
"He knew the challenge that he had from an individual perspective (opposed to St Kilda's in-form Rowan Marshall) but he also knew what it was for the footy club.
"He rose to the occasion and played accordingly."
Gawn and the Demons will look to continue their winning ways as they travel to TIO Stadium in Darwin to face Fremantle.
