Melbourne captain Max Gawn has lifted the lid on just how bad his knee injury was in the back-half of the 2020 season.
Gawn missed three games after copping a knock to his knee in the Demons’ win over Adelaide, before returning for the final stretch.
The ruckman said his specialist was “gobsmacked” by his ability to play through the PCL injury, upon his first proper check-up when the Dees returned to Victoria.
“I did hurt my knee pretty significantly in the Adelaide game, but I was already playing under a little bit of duress with my shoulder, but that one set me back, I was out of the team for three weeks and then I came back a little bit prematurely,” Gawn told SEN Afternoons on Wednesday.
“There was five weeks to go in the season and we were aiming for finals and I was under a fair bit of duress, but in saying that I was able to get out on the park and once that siren goes there’s no real duress you can claim.
“My job now is to get my knee right and make sure I’m ready to go for 2021.
“I went and saw (my doctor), we did a zoom call when I was up in Queensland and I don’t think he really got how bad the injury was from the zoom call.”
“Once I came in after the season he was actually relatively gobsmacked that I was able to get through those five games.
“He said no operation, the PCL is one of those ones you can sort of just rest and hopefully it gets better and play through it and to be fair, I haven’t really missed a beat in this off-season running program that Darren Burgess has got us on.
“A little bit of rest in those first few weeks and the swelling’s gone. All things now leading to the next season.”
Gawn this weekend will participate in a 172km bike ride to raise funds and awareness for Foodbank Victoria.