MAX GAWN has hailed Melbourne's brutal list calls as he inevitably ponders how his storied AFL career will end.
The Demons captain will turn 35 on December 30 and is coming off another fine season. He earned a record ninth All-Australian selection and was made skipper of the honorary team for the second time.
Under new coach Steven King, Melbourne defied predictions of doom to make a wildcard final.
But it was only two years ago when president Brad Green made the call at the club best and fairest awards that its midfield for the start of the 2025 season would be Gawn, Jack Viney, Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.
With Viney's trade to West Coast, Gawn is the only member of that star-studded 2021 premiership quartet still at Melbourne.
"I applaud the list management team, who have made some brutal decisions – none probably more brutal than Jack this year," Gawn said on Monday.
"But you saw with what we were able to do this year – most people tipped us for the bottom four – then we came out and played some pretty good footy.
"'Kingy' and (list manager) Tim Lamb have a rough idea of what they're doing."
Zane Duursma's arrival from North Melbourne means Melbourne added another young talent – particularly important, given the imminent arrival of the Tasmanian team.
"That's a really cool place to be," Gawn said.
The Demons great is contracted until the end of next year and is well aware, particularly given Viney's departure, that his own time will come soon.
"I've been getting used to that phone call on the last day of trade period," Gawn said ruefully of the chat with Viney.
"I'm getting old. I'm pretty keen at Melbourne.
"I understand 'Vines' would have said the same thing 12 months ago."
Five years ago, as the Demons bathed in the afterglow of their drought-breaking '21 flag, Gawn marvelled at the strength of their list.
Melbourne still only has David Neitz and Nathan Jones as 300-game players, but it looked back then as if that would soon change.
"I thought 'wow, we're all about to blow this out – we have (Angus) Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca, Viney, myself, Tom (McDonald), (Jake) Melksham, (Jake) Lever, (Steven) May," he said.
"We were all coming up to 200 Melbourne games. Five years on, none (sic) of those guys are here anymore.
"Then you go 'Wow' - footy can change."
He also noted Geelong's 2022 premiership team changing dramatically only two years later, when it lost the Grand Final to Brisbane.
"It's like we haven't changed or adapted or moved on, we're still trying to win it again with the '21 premiership team," Gawn said.
"This is what's needed, in a way, to stay up with the modern game."
Gawn, an ambassador for the TAC People's Ride at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in January, continues to use his cycling obsession as a way to keep up with the modern game.
This month, he did an 'Everest' ride at Willunga Hill south of Adelaide – that's 8848m of climbing in total. It took Gawn 21 hours.
"Everest is certainly the stupidest one I've done," he said of his off-season projects.
"The proof is in the pudding here – I'm making it up as I go. It seems to be working for me."