Melbourne captain Max Gawn says he had no idea that Paul Guerra was to be removed as the club CEO before the news dropped on Tuesday.
The Demons made the tough decision to move on Guerra after seven months in the role, with Dan Taylor named as his replacement.
"Things were a bit too normal, weren't they?" Gawn chuckled on Triple M.
"I didn't know. They gave four to five senior players, a couple of the older boys, an extra day off because we had a nine-day break.
"So it happened on my extra day off. They had to get me out of the building to get it done."
Gawn was "proud" that the news didn't leak into the media, despite president Steven Smith saying that Taylor was asked about the role in previous weeks, but admitted the decision wasn't run past his desk.
"This one did," the Demons skipper said.
"And I'm happy it did to be fair. This is nowhere near my pay grade. CEO, president and board conversations. What I am extremely glad about is I didn't find out, and hoping it was a decision made in 10 minutes, but a decision make over a couple of weeks.
"And that hadn't leaked out for the amount of footy shows, and nothing came out for a few weeks.
"That's something I'm really proud of. I also like that the fact that this is not reactive. I feel like the Melbourne football club over the last five years has been reactive to a scandal or bad news story.
"This seems like the opposite. This seems preventative. This seems like we're on the front foot which is something I can appreciate."
Melbourne revealed that the main reason behind Guerra's sacking was the lack of confidence the board has in him to run the club as well as breakdown of relationships.
"No idea," Gawn said of the broken relationships.
"Paul comes and speaks to the players a lot. We're a split football club because our football department is at the MCG, and we're at AAMI Park and Casey, so you don't see much.
"Paul made himself very present. I got along with him quite well. I caught up with him multiple times. He helped me as a leader with different little points.
"It was something the players didn't see coming, as well as the footy staff. The fact that it was kept so quiet was good but definitely a surprise."
Ironically, the Demons will face Sydney this week at the SCG where Brodie Grundy and Simon Goodwin reside.
