Melbourne champion Max Gawn has cemented his legacy as the game’s best-ever ruckman, becoming the first nine-time All-Australian on Tuesday night.
Also named captain of the side, Gawn’s status was confirmed when the first-ever 23-man All-Australian team was unveiled at the AFL Awards at Centrepiece Melbourne.
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The 2021 Demons premiership captain was one of two ruckmen picked in the side, with athletic beast Luke Jackson also named, leaving Brodie Grundy as an unlucky omission.
Gawn moved past the revered group of eight-timers, who welcomed another member in Western Bulldogs superstar Marcus Bontempelli.
The Dogs’ captain joins the likes of Gary Ablett Snr, Gary Ablett Jnr, Patrick Dangerfield, Lance Franklin, Robert Harvey, and Mark Ricciuto as eight-time All-Australians.
Nine first-timers had their names etched into All-Australian folklore: Wayne Milera, Logan Morris, the aforementioned Jackson, Murphy Reid, Josh Treacy, Ollie Dempsey, Lachie Ash, Jarman Impey and Nick Watson.
When Melbourne’s history-making skipper gave his All-Australian captaincy acceptance speech, he couldn’t help but tip his cap to courageous Crows peer Jordan Dawson.
“To be honest, I think we probably saw one of the better captain’s speeches here tonight already,” Gawn said on Awards Night.
“I know the accolades with my nine times (All-Australian) allows me to be in the position to get captain, but I think we saw some leadership tonight.
“I think for Jordan to get up and do what he did, to speak about mental health, to lead his side through the tragedy that happened with his family, and then to show vulnerability in front of a group of strangers that he hasn’t got it right, he hasn’t got it perfect and asking for help, that’s a captain that I want to be behind.
“So, I appreciate the gesture, but I want to get behind Jordan Dawson, and I would allow him to do the speech, because his speech was perfect tonight.”
Dawson came away from Tuesday night with three honours — AFLPA Best Captain, AFLPA Most Courageous Player, and a third All-Australian blazer — but none prompted the thunderous applause that his emotional acceptance speech did.
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Earlier in the night, Nick Daicos, who’s now a four-time All-Australian, also became Collingwood’s first-ever two-time AFLPA MVP winner.
