Max Gawn's telling response as Melbourne Demons take action after tumultuous AFL season
Gawn says he is "glad" a review is underway of the AFL club's football department.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn says he is glad the Demons have decided to launch a review into the club's football department. Just two days after Kate Roffey stepped down as president leaving the club's board, Melbourne recruited former All Blacks manager Darren Shand to do an external review into the AFL side's recent struggles. New president Brad Green will also review the club's board.
The Demons have been embroiled in several off-field controversies across the last season and failing to reach the AFL finals has been seen as a huge disaster. The Demons have also been fending off reports Christian Petracca and Kysaiah Pickett want out of the club, with the side's culture coming under the microscope.
On Monday, Gawn tried to play down the significance of Shand helping Green and Demons chief executive Gary Pert dissect what went wrong in 2024, saying it is something he believes every club should routinely do. "I get why this is big news, but in my head, it's not big news," Gawn told Triple M on Monday.
"Surely if we won the flag and finished first, I would love to have the All Black leadership and culture (leader) come in and check how we're going. I'm glad it's happening. I think every club should get reviewed every year.
"I own two restaurants ... and we constantly have people come in and do an external review on our restaurant ... hopefully we get some good stuff from it."
New Melbourne president Green believes the review will help reset and refresh the board's performance. "I am honoured to have been chosen as president by my colleagues and proud to continue to serve this great club which has given me so many opportunities in life," he said.
"I have told my colleagues that I will lead the review process and once it is completed I would like to give the board the opportunity to vote again on the presidency. This will be a collaborative reset of the board and it's important that we are honest with each other about where we have succeeded, and where we could have done better.
"There is no doubt that we need to turn the faith and belief of our members and fans into results and performance, and the board stands at the top of that process."
Kate Roffey exits club on back of several dramas
Roffey took over as president in 2021 and oversaw Melbourne's drought-breaking AFL premiership that season. But since then things haven't been so rosy.
Soon after the Demons won the flag, leaks to the media emerged alleging off-field dramas at the club. While on the field, the Demons had straight-set exits from the 2022 and 2023 finals series and failed to make the top eight this season altogether.
Melbourne were also dealt two tough blows this year. Angus Brayshaw was forced to retire prematurely because of repeated concussions. And then Petracca had his season ended in June when he suffered serious internal injuries in the King's Birthday game against Collingwood.
Petracca required surgery and as he struggled with his recovery, it emerged he was also in two minds about staying at the club. There have also been numerous other problems at the AFL club with Clayton Oliver struggling with off-field health issues, while teammate Joel Smith remains under investigation after failing a drugs test.
Roffey's predecessor, Glenn Bartlett, also remains at loggerheads with the club after his sudden exit from the role. And earlier this year, federal politician Andrew Wilkie used parliamentary privilege to allege Melbourne had helped players evade testing under the AFL illicit drugs code. While a Sport Integrity Australia investigation cleared Melbourne and the AFL of any wrongdoing, it made a series of key recommendations about the league's controversial illicit drugs policy.
And most recently, Roffey was widely criticised for a radio interview she gave late last month amid intense speculation over the future of star player Petracca. While Petracca announced last week that he is staying at the club, the fall-out from the interview had fed media talk that Roffey would not remain president. And on Friday the Demons announced she had stepped down as president and would leave the board effective immediately.
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"Kate's legacy as president is outstanding and we owe her a debt of gratitude," Green said in the club statement. "She took over at a tumultuous time, brought great stability to the board and backed our management team and football department to deliver premierships."
with agencies
