Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn expects co-captains Jack Viney and Nathan Jones to prove their fitness and help celebrate his 100th AFL game.
Gawn believes the skippers will overcome restricted pre-seasons and play against Port Adelaide in Saturday’s season opener at the MCG.
“I think they will play. It will be a gutsy coach to leave out Jones and Viney,” the 27-year-old Gawn told reporters on Monday.
Viney had ankle surgery at the end of last season, while Jones has battled a hamstring complaint since returning to training after Christmas. Both had limited game time in pre-season matches.
But Gawn was confident the rugged midfielders would front against Port as he eyes a personal milestone 10 seasons in the making.
Gawn admitted doubting he would ever play 100 AFL games after frequent knee problems stalled his early career.
“Every single one of the nine operations I had on my right knee, I had my doubts,” Gawn said.
“And they all seemed to be in pretty bad times for me, around contract talks and stuff like that, so they were stressful moments.
“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone under the age of 21, to go through the amount of knee ops that I did and the amount of adversity.
“But it turned me into an adult quicker than what I could have imagined.”
Gawn has since risen to be rated the premier ruckman in the competition, winning All Australian selection in 2016 and last year.
“It’s an average of 9.9 games a year which I am not that proud of, but I wouldn’t really change the way I have done it,” the 27-year-old said.
“It has been a relatively interesting journey – no footy really in the first five years and lots of footy in the second five years.
“I probably won’t be that kind of player that gets to 200 (games) or 250 and definitely not 300.
“I know 100 is still a little milestone compared to a lot of other people. But from where I have been, it’s a pretty big milestone for me.”