Demons captain Max Gawn apologises for suggesting Walyalup (Fremantle) star Luke Jackson could return to club
Narrm (Melbourne) captain Max Gawn has publicly apologised for insinuating Dockers star Luke Jackson could be returning to the Demons, saying he didn’t mean to throw fuel on trade talk’s fire.
Last week, Gawn created a storm when he appeared on Triple M and spoke about the potential for Jackson to return to the Dees.
“WA is an unbelievable to place to be when you’re 18, 19, like it’s a great party and these Perth boys go back at 22 and all their mates have sort of grown up a bit,” he said at the time.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“There’s so many people that got a trade back to WA and then came back, not mentioning one that potentially could be coming back soon.”
With widespread speculation that Jackson is interested in returning to the club he won a premiership with, Gawn’s comments created instant headlines and heaped pressure on the Dockers star. Demons coach Simon Goodwin also talked about the possibility of Jackson playing in red and blue again.
Dockers coach Justin Longmuir hasn’t liked the discussion about Jackson from other clubs and raised it as an issue in his post-game press conference on Saturday.
Gawn said he’d made a mistake.
“I will clear it up. I certainly don’t like myself speculating about other people who are contracted, I think that’s stupid. I apologise if that was how it came across, it wasn’t my intention,” Gawn said.
“My intention was to have a little laugh. I appreciate that Luke has said that he’s staying.”
Jackson dominated against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday, leading the Dockers to a crucial victory on the road. Sean Darcy missed that game due to injury which only increased discussion about whether Jackson is best suited to playing as the number one ruckman.
If he did return to Melbourne, he’d also be part of a tandem ruck set up due to Gawn being one of the AFL’s biggest stars. Gawn admitted his previous combination with Brodie Grundy failed.
“We butchered two rucks,” he said.
“It probably hasn’t worked (for the Dockers) this year, but Sean and Luke have been a good ruck combination in the last two years. I think Sean came back from a pretty bad injury and came back a week or two early.”
