RUCKMAN Max Gawn says Port Adelaide’s midfield and forward line simply outgunned his team, as Melbourne went down by 45 points at TIO Traeger Park Oval on Saturday.

Gawn said Port Adelaide’s engine room was excellent and its talls in attacked troubled Melbourne.  

“They’ve got a super midfield, contested ball players – they’ve got a couple of really good key forwards in [Charlie] Dixon and [Justin] Westhoff that troubled us today,” he told Melbourne TV.

“Their defenders really held-up, [Jack] Hombsch gave Hoges (Jesse Hogan) a really good game.

“They (Port Adelaide) go well – we gave them a fair bit of the ball earlier and they were able to capitalise.”

Gawn said it was good to get a bit of the ball – he had 48 hit outs, 18 disposals and two goals – after what he described “a lean couple of weeks”.

“I know [Jackson] Trengove is not known for his ruckwork, so it almost puts more pressure on you that you need to do something,” he said.

“I was able to give the mids some first use and I followed up well and took a couple of marks forward as well, which helps.

Gawn acknowledged playing in the ruck, was a tiring position to play, but he said it was taxing for every player in the game.

“Everyone gets sore at this time of the year – my position is kind of unique,” he said.

“You get two ruckmen belting into you almost every game, so you are usually going to get a few bumps and bruises.

“I’m actually going pretty well – my body is holding up well and I’m looking forward to [Jonathan] Segler and [Ben] McEvoy this week, another two really good ruckmen.”