Losses, low crowds, leaked texts, drunken brawls between teammates. These are inevitabilities in the AFL’s alpha male world. But at a club like Melbourne, they matter.
Melbourne’s Max Gawn leads the Demons off the field after their defeat by the Sydney Swans in Rd 12.Melbourne’s Max Gawn leads the Demons off the field after their defeat by the Sydney Swans in Rd 12.In 1995, the previously undefeated Carlton hit a flat spot, dropping games to the bottom two sides.
The Dees circled the wagons, laughed it off, and won the first ten games of the year. They were just ticking boxes. They’d choke sides, make them panic, make them bomb and hope. Their defence, led by Stephen May, was impenetrable. “Be very afraid,” David King said. “Melbourne are going at about 70 per cent of last year, and they’re already proving they’re 50 per cent better than the rest of the competition.
And then came the fight. It’s a sad state of affairs when a drunken footballer who has whacked his teammate leads the nightly news. Blokes who assault their partners enjoy far less scrutiny. This incident was straight from the 1990s, when alcohol related incidents would be swept under the beer mat. But you rarely hear about them these days. Most of the best players are cleanskins. As Bailey Smith showed this weekend, most of the debauchery takes place in the off-season.
It’s tempting to dismiss an incident like this as a trifle, as an inevitability in a world of alpha males. But at a club like Melbourne, it matters. Nathan Jones was livid when he spoke about it on Friday. Gawn, coming off one of the best individual games in years, looked pissed off and let down. If his 2021 Captain’s Diary is anything to go by, they spent a good part of 2021 in the emotional sweep spot, expressing their love and gratitude.
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