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Captain's Diary: After 57 Years: Melbourne's History-Making 2021 Grand Final Season
The Max Gawn Captain's Diary relates how, after 57 long years, the Melbourne Football Club’s team won the AFL’s 2021 Premiership. How, over the course of the season, they rose to the top of the ladder and proved they were the team to beat if you wanted to win the flag in 2021. But given the long drought and lack of finals experience, it was never going to be easy. As the season progressed, Max Gawn and his team turned the tide of public opinion and their supporters began to dream big. The Demons showed the grit, talent and aggression that a true Grand Final challenger needed.
Revealing and insightful, popular Melbourne captain Max Gawn takes us through the season, the talented players, their amazing coach, and a finals campaign where a Max Gawn goal after the siren put them in top spot on the ladder. And how, in the Grand Final, after a tense first half, the team claimed a Grand Final victory, with a 74-point triumph in front of a packed Perth stadium and millions of TV viewers locked down by COVID-19. Max and the Demons brought the cup home to Melbourne.
Revealing and insightful, popular Melbourne captain Max Gawn takes us through the season, the talented players, their amazing coach, and a finals campaign where a Max Gawn goal after the siren put them in top spot on the ladder. And how, in the Grand Final, after a tense first half, the team claimed a Grand Final victory, with a 74-point triumph in front of a packed Perth stadium and millions of TV viewers locked down by COVID-19. Max and the Demons brought the cup home to Melbourne.
- GenresNonfiction
289 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2021
5 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 15, 2022
What I especially enjoyed was how in each chapter/round, Max highlighted a member of the MFC and how their game contributes to the team. I was always going to enjoy reading this but was impressed with Max’s level-head and the insights he gave into the team.
January 11, 2022
Being a Dees tragic I was destined to enjoy this book but it was a genuinely good read. Max cleverly intertwined the team’s performance in each game with his thoughts on the strengths and virtues of each player and his own journey from slightly lost, injury ravaged recruit to self assured, premiership leader. I have never finished a book more quickly than this one - a real page turner!
January 7, 2022
First time ever finished a book in a night. Was “one more chapter” from about the middle of the book. Great easy read with great insight into an amazing season. 🟥🟦
January 11, 2022
A great way to relive the season! Thought I knew it all already but learnt a lot from this. Really appreciated learning more about each of the players and the ethos of the team. And just so proud of everything the team accomplished! C’arn the Dees!
October 1, 2022
A must read reflection of and insight to the club and the year for any die hard Melbourne fan.
January 13, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. As a long standing, long suffering Demons fan, that is hardly surprising. What perhaps is a little surprising, though, is that the book is very well written. I don't normally expect footballers to be great writers, but Gawn does come across as quite a balanced, thoughtful guy. He has great poise - both mentally and physically - and is very much his own man. As such, I think, he makes an excellent captain. (Of course, his physical stature - his height is 209 cm - helps greatly in this regard, too.)
The book is largely a game by game account of the season, but each chapter is much more than a match report. Gawn goes out of his way to highlight a particular player in each such chapter - not just for their performance during that particular game, but for its context within that particular player's career. Inclusiveness was a big theme during the club's premiership season, and there would be very few players - if any - that Gawn does not go out of his way to heap thoughtful praise upon at some stage.
It is a puzzle to me how the book came to be written, and published in such a polished form so soon after the end of the season. Gawn must have been keeping extensive diary notes from the beginning of the season, with or without the intention of turning them into a book. Perhaps he just had a hunch from the very beginning that this year was going to be special. The book definitely devotes some time to explaining the factors - starting from late last season - that led to the dramatic turnaround this year.
No doubt this book will be most enjoyed by Demons supporters. (A word of explanation for the uninitiated: 'Demons' is the nickname for the Melbourne Football Club.) However, I am sure there are many supporters of other teams who will enjoy it. After all, who could not celebrate a premiership drought as long as this one? Even non-AFL followers will find something to enjoy here. (I would fully understand, though, if Bulldogs supporters chose to give it a wide berth...)
The book is largely a game by game account of the season, but each chapter is much more than a match report. Gawn goes out of his way to highlight a particular player in each such chapter - not just for their performance during that particular game, but for its context within that particular player's career. Inclusiveness was a big theme during the club's premiership season, and there would be very few players - if any - that Gawn does not go out of his way to heap thoughtful praise upon at some stage.
It is a puzzle to me how the book came to be written, and published in such a polished form so soon after the end of the season. Gawn must have been keeping extensive diary notes from the beginning of the season, with or without the intention of turning them into a book. Perhaps he just had a hunch from the very beginning that this year was going to be special. The book definitely devotes some time to explaining the factors - starting from late last season - that led to the dramatic turnaround this year.
No doubt this book will be most enjoyed by Demons supporters. (A word of explanation for the uninitiated: 'Demons' is the nickname for the Melbourne Football Club.) However, I am sure there are many supporters of other teams who will enjoy it. After all, who could not celebrate a premiership drought as long as this one? Even non-AFL followers will find something to enjoy here. (I would fully understand, though, if Bulldogs supporters chose to give it a wide berth...)
March 31, 2022
What a read! As a Melbourne fanatic I'm so glad that we have someone of the calibre of Max Gawn as our captain. His insights are deeply personal at times and extremely honest, both about himself and his performances (stepping back to allow Luke Jackson to run rings around Stef Martin in the GF), and about others (silly noises coming from Clayton Oliver's room every night in the quarantine hub).
Made me really excited to follow the players closely in 2022.
Made me really excited to follow the players closely in 2022.
November 6, 2022
Loved this insight into the club. Going through each round was great and what I enjoyed most was seeing so many other players highlighted and recognised for their efforts in each game.
A great read for any Melbourne fan.
A great read for any Melbourne fan.
December 28, 2021
Well of course I loved it.
What a season.
What a season.
January 10, 2022
A must have for any Melbourne Demons fan. Journalling the thoughts and reflections of the 2021 season through the Grand Final and celebrations.
January 13, 2022
One for the Demons fans…which I am not! It was an interesting look at the way the club changed and big Max is a great leader
October 29, 2022
clearly biased as a Dees fan, but a simple and digestible way to relive last years success. Really enjoyed the round by round structure and learning more about a different player each week.
April 29, 2022
Recaptures every step of the journey - go dees
August 20, 2023
When all is said and done, this year we did what we said
This book was a little Xmas gift to myself. An ex-pat, lifelong Dees supporter who used to trudge along to the "G" during the dark years, I have been lapping up the excitement of 2021 from a distance and this book provided me with another avenue to relive the arrival of a new dynasty.
It's a quick read - the chapters go game by game but it is not simply a recitation of the match highlights. Each chapter also includes a bit of background and anecdotes on a particular player - so it's an opportunity to learn about what makes each guy tick. Understanding a bit more about what makes Trac, Clarry, Salo, Langers etc. tick makes the book a good, fun read. Max also spends time talking about the guys who missed out through injury or just bad luck (gotta feel for Adam Tomlinson and Jayden Hunt), but he notes that this will be an impetus to repeat in 2022, along with being back in front of Melbourne crowds.
No one is going to mistake Max for Tolstoy but he has an engaging writing style. The editing was obviously a bit rushed - they couldn't figure out if it is Bayley or Bailey Fritsch. But this is a minor quibble (unless you're Fritta). When all is said and done -- how can you rate a book by Max Gawn describing the 2021 season as anything less than 5 stars!
This book was a little Xmas gift to myself. An ex-pat, lifelong Dees supporter who used to trudge along to the "G" during the dark years, I have been lapping up the excitement of 2021 from a distance and this book provided me with another avenue to relive the arrival of a new dynasty.
It's a quick read - the chapters go game by game but it is not simply a recitation of the match highlights. Each chapter also includes a bit of background and anecdotes on a particular player - so it's an opportunity to learn about what makes each guy tick. Understanding a bit more about what makes Trac, Clarry, Salo, Langers etc. tick makes the book a good, fun read. Max also spends time talking about the guys who missed out through injury or just bad luck (gotta feel for Adam Tomlinson and Jayden Hunt), but he notes that this will be an impetus to repeat in 2022, along with being back in front of Melbourne crowds.
No one is going to mistake Max for Tolstoy but he has an engaging writing style. The editing was obviously a bit rushed - they couldn't figure out if it is Bayley or Bailey Fritsch. But this is a minor quibble (unless you're Fritta). When all is said and done -- how can you rate a book by Max Gawn describing the 2021 season as anything less than 5 stars!
January 18, 2024
(5.5/10) I came in expecting some funny anecdotes about players behind-the-scenes, and some insights into team messaging and coaching strategies to fill out my memory of the season, written by a footballer who is unusually eloquent but still very much a footballer. it's pretty much exactly that.
December 27, 2021
I don’t think it surprises anyone who knows me that I cried all through this
January 2, 2022
After 57 years, this was a good read
February 4, 2022
Reading this book through my biased red and blue lens, I loved it. Written in a style where it felt like Max was actually talking to me. ❤️💙
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews