MAX GAWN says he and teammate Steven May are still 'talking through' their confrontation at the MCG on Monday via text message, with Melbourne's skipper labelling his own reaction "really poor".
In the final seconds of the King's Birthday game against Collingwood, Gawn shanked a kick from defence into the waiting arms of Magpie Will Hoskin-Elliott, effectively ending any chance the Dees had of winning the game.
May came up to Gawn and remonstrated, with the skipper screwing up his face and pushing the key back away.
On Tuesday morning, Gawn said he could not "confidently tell you what (May) actually said", but confirmed May's criticism was about the skipper's poor kick.
Gawn also defended the key defender, saying it was a "teammate showing care".
"I think it says [a bit about] both of us; we were both extremely disappointed in that last 30 seconds," Gawn said on Triple M radio.
"I thought my reaction was really poor.
"I had a teammate showing care; his version of care, from a long history with Steven May. I know that.
"I'm really agreeable with how strong his feedback and terminology and body language is on-ground because he gets the best out of his team.
"I'm here to defend Steven. He's copped it a little bit in the media over the last 24 hours.
"If he had his time again, he might not do it on the final siren with a camera there. That's both of us throughout the whole game, and unfortunately, that's been caught on camera.
"I make it a bigger thing by pushing him away, and I'm slightly disappointed in how it's played out."
Gawn said he and May had communicated via text in the past 12 hours, dismissing any suggestion of lingering ill-feeling between the pair.
"We were always going to be all good," he said. "I've got a lot of respect for him, and he has respect for me.
"We're currently still talking through it via text."
After the game on Monday, Demons coach Simon Goodwin also attempted to play down the incident.
"[It was] two competitors that are frustrated, two leaders that (have) got an incredibly strong relationship, that are obviously disappointed with the outcome," Goodwin said.
"But as I've spoken to the whole group about, be disappointed with the outcome, but keep working on the things that'll keep making us better. They've moved on already. They're in [the rooms] having a good chat about it. They've moved on pretty quickly.
"Obviously, it didn't quite come off the boot the way we would have liked. But they're the decisions you make with 45 seconds to go. I thought the whole last quarter was filled with moments, and moments that they probably just got that one or two better than us on the day, and were able to maximise those opportunities."
