RUCKMAN Max Gawn says the players “got through some home truths” before hitting the training track on Tuesday.

Gawn said it had been a testing day for the Demons, after they reviewed their insipid 64-point loss to GWS at the MCG last Sunday.

“We’ve had a few of these reviews and the boys are getting a little bit sick of it,” he told Dee TV.  

“Hopefully we make a response against West Coast – we have to for the supporters, and we were all very, very disappointed and embarrassed in the way the game went out.

“It’s a big opportunity to take 22 boys over to Perth and have a performance against West Coast.”

Gawn said there was no beating around the bush in the meetings.

“There is a little bit face to face. It’s quite confronting and there could be an edit up on the screen, which clearly points out something that someone did wrong,” he said.

“That person will get questioned by the leaders and the other people in the room and then later on we just talked about where the football club’s going and how we have a big involvement in where the footy club’s going.”

Still, Gawn said plenty was gained from the review.

“You get a lot out of those meetings,” he said.

“You’ve got to come out angry and that’s what I hoped the majority of people have done. We need to be angry and we can’t accept those performances and we’ve got to take our anger into West Coast [this Saturday] and into North Melbourne in [round 23].”

A couple of days on from Melbourne’s bitterly disappointing performance, Gawn said the team had now turned its attention to this Saturday’s clash against West Coast Eagles at Patersons Stadium.

“Sunday, I didn’t want to talk to anybody and I was just in my own world. I took it all in and was still very angry, disappointed and embarrassed,” he said.

“The funny thing about football is that you’ve got to get ready for the next week and Tuesday is about the day that you’ve got to start gearing up for West Coast and we fly out tomorrow (Wednesday).

“If we’re still feeling sorry for ourselves against GWS, we’re going to do nothing against West Coast.

“We’ve got to get out of this mindset … and it’s guys like me that have got to drive that, so I’ve got to flick the switch and get ready for West Coast.”

Gawn said the Demons were drawing inspiration from their efforts against the Crows and Port Adelaide in Adelaide this year for their build-up in the west.

“We’ve had two good successful [trips] to South Australia – although we lost one by three points – so hopefully we take that mindset [to Perth] that we took [to Adelaide],” he said.

“There are a couple of big men for me [to battle against] in [Nic] Naitanui and Dean Cox – and it might be Coxy’s last game over there as well.

“It’s going to be a big game and we’ve got to get ourselves psyched up, but there are no excuses to perform this week. We’ve got to come out there and [show] effort, compete and try and take it to West Coast.”

As for his own form, after returning to the side in round 20, Gawn said he was still craving consistency in his game – an area the coaches were driving home to him.

“I’ve got to work on being involved in the game – and that’s just getting to every contest,” he said.