Max Gawn shoves teammate in fiery last-minute exchange during Melbourne’s thrilling loss to Collingwood

Max Gawn has given 7NEWS a first-hand account of the fiery exchange he shared with teammate Steven May after Collingwood held on for a thrilling one-point win over Melbourne in an instant classic on King’s Birthday.

Little separated the two sides for much of the afternoon in an enthralling battle that went down to the wire and saw Melbourne teammates clash in a fiery post-siren exchange.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Max Gawn and Steven May in fiery post-match confrontation.

Two late clangers from Melbourne superstars Clayton Oliver and Gawn enabled the Pies to hang on for the 11.6 (72) to 10.11 (71) victory.

With just over two minutes remaining and the Demons surging forward, Oliver had the chance to kick deep into the forward line but his wayward effort went straight out on the full.

Then with about 30 seconds remaining, Gawn took a mark deep in defence ready to launch one final roll of the dice.

But his kick went straight to Collingwood’s Will Hoskin-Elliott to end any hopes of a miraculous comeback. The ball then made its way out to Bobby Hill, who marked the ball as the siren went.

As Hill lined up an unlikely 60m attempt at goal, Gawn and defender Steven May were involved in a fiery confrontation.

May appeared to say something to Gawn, who reacted by pushing the veteran away. Daniel Turner was between the pair and had his arm around Gawn as cameras panned away.

“Big Maxy was upset, wasn’t he?” Brian Taylor said in commentary.

Fellow commentator Dale Thomas said it wasn’t a “great look”.

“He was, and that’s on the back of the kick trying to take it through the corridor. Frustration comes in, we know that, but it’s not a great look,” Thomas said.

“This is what happens - when you are competitors, you want to do everything you can to win, deliver feedback in different ways - you probably don’t want to react the way you do, but at times, you have to.”

Speaking to 7NEWS Melbourne in the rooms after the match, Gawn said it was something that happened in the heat of the moment.

“We’re just both competitors and we both wanted to win the game,” he said.

“Unfortunately, with 30 seconds to go, I put the ball in Hoskin-Elliott’s lap, and I’m pretty sure all 17 of my teammates were pretty angry with that decision.

“I felt like we had a chance to potentially win the game still with 30 seconds to go, as did a few other people, and that sort of iced it.”

Asked if he had cleared the air yet with May, Gawn said they hadn’t yet, but “will”.

“We’ve earmarked it, don’t worry,” he added.

During the broadcast, Luke Hodge suggested May was the aggressor in the situation.

“It’s interesting what May said to him. It seems like May was being aggressive, the way that Max has gone back at him,” he said.

“If a teammate does something like what Max did — took a mark, turned the ball over — you’re probably going to go up there, pat him on the back, and say, ‘Hey, bad luck, mate’.

“It looks like, from the way Max has gone back, that May’s had a go at him about the decision to kick the ball through the middle.

“There was 40 seconds to go, he had to take the game on — you couldn’t blame what he tried to do.”

Thomas added that the pair would likely sort it out immediately after the match.

“It doesn’t need to be blown out of proportion; it’s two competitors, you’re teammates, you have conversations, and willing conversations,” he said.

“As long as you walk off now, you sort it out, that’s all it should be.”

The Magpies led by 20 points in the third quarter but fell behind early in the last term, before Dan McStay kicked the final goal of an enthralling battle.

Both sides had further chances to score but Gawn’s snap at a boundary throw-in narrowly missed and a set shot by Koltyn Tholstrup fell short as the Demons fell agonisingly short.

Almost a year to the day since last season’s injury nightmare, Demons star Christian Petracca returned to the same stage with 26 disposals and five clearances.

But it was some of Collingwood’s stars who shone brightest as the ladder leaders made it five wins on the bounce and improved their record to 11-2 ahead of a mid-season bye.

Jeremy Howe (26 disposals) was brilliant in defence, Josh Daicos (34) stood up in the middle and McStay kicked two important goals.

Nick Daicos kicked one goal from 19 disposals as he dealt with a tight tag from rebadged Melbourne winger Ed Langdon.

The Demons (5-8) had their chances as Bayley Fritsch and Kysaiah Pickett kicked three goals each.

Pickett put Melbourne in front briefly in the final quarter and Clayton Oliver (30 disposals, nine clearances) worked hard.

The Demons dominated centre clearances (16-7) and overall clearances (39-29), and had a 54-45 advantage in forward entries, but couldn’t make it count.

Langdon wore Daicos like a glove from the outset and their tussle was central to multiple spotfires throughout a tight first half.

Two Pickett goals bookended three straight Collingwood majors in the second quarter, his first a fortuitous hack off the deck from 45 metres.

But the Demons managed just 2.4 for the term — to Collingwood’s 4.0 — despite dominating the inside-50 count (21-9).

The Magpies, who enjoyed an 18-11 advantage in free kicks in the first half, led by eight points at the main break after Tim Membrey slotted a set shot on the siren.

Fritsch twice trimmed the margin to a solitary point with brilliant snaps in the final term, either side of a Nick Daicos goal on the end of a 50m penalty.

And Pickett put Melbourne in front with another snap before McStay sent the Magpies ahead for the last time.

Collingwood’s victory extended their recent dominance of Melbourne to 11 wins in 13 meetings.

- With AAP