Gawn lifts lid on cancelled preseason camp

Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn has revealed intimate details of the process behind the playing group cancelling an organised preseason boot camp last month.

The Demons endured the gruelling camp last offseason, where Christian Salem (concussion) and Dom Tyson (partially dislocated knee cap) both suffered injuries.

After weighing up the pros and cons of participating going on the trip, it was reported the players decided to raise their concerns with the Players’ Association. While confirming that aspect, Gawn has admitted the coaching staff wasn’t left out of the loop.

“The camp was in place and the players had concerns about it, but unfortunately the players took a bit of a long time to get those concerns out,” he told SEN Breakfast.

“The concerns were around player wellbeing, injury and so on.

“It took about a month, but those concerns were then raised by the leadership group.

“The leadership group, as a representation of the players, spoke to Goody (coach Simon Goodwin) and from there on, the camp got stopped.

“The leadership group also got told by the Players’ Association that there were players coming to them as well. Players were coming to both parties.”

Even though there was no animosity between coaches and players, Gawn conceded that he would be surprised if he was Goodwin.

“If I put myself in Goody’s shoes, I would probably think, what is going on here?” the 2016 All-Australian said.

“The players have sort of stood up against me, but the way Goody spoke to the leadership group when we spoke to him, he was very good.

“The players had concerns, the fitness staff had concerns, the coaches had concerns, and then when it all built up, the best decision was made.”

According to Gawn, the 2016 version of the camp saw players sleep for around “half an hour” across 72 hours, in an attempt to build “mental toughness.”

Former Dees captain Garry Lyon is of the notion the cancelled training camp is a portrayal of the changing football landscape.

“My old school reaction is I didn’t want to do the 15 kilometre run up Mount Buninyong, or the 100 100’s,” he said.

“You just went and did it. That’s indicative of where we are in the world.

“It’s no longer jump, how high, it’s jump, why?”

AFL Players’ Association GM of player development Brett Johnson also discussed their involvement in the situation on SEN Drive.

“Our role in that was to just facilitate the conversation between the players and the club,” he said.

“We didn’t have the conversation ourselves, it was resolved between the players and the club, which was a good outcome.

“We appreciated that the players reached out to us, but then we worked with the players to then take it upon themselves to have a conversation with the club and work through it.

“I think removing the camp was the club’s decision in consultation with the players. I think everyone has moved on from that and I know the players have come back from their break raring to go.

“I guess there were a few issues that came out of the camp last year which the players were not that happy with and they did not want to see that happen again, so they had that conversation with the club and they worked through it.”

Did you miss Max Gawn’s chat with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast? Take a listen in the player below!