Max Gawn: ‘If I didn’t like walking to a cafe and talking footy, I probably wouldn’t have a beard’

‘Being able to find the healthy balance is the key,’ says Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn, who plays his 250th AFL game this weekend. Photograph: Sally Goodall

The question takes Max Gawn, 249 games into one of the great AFL careers, by surprise. What has his life in footy given him but, also, what has it taken away?

“I haven’t been asked that, probably because I haven’t retired yet, but I think 250 games is a good chance to talk about it,” he says in the lead-up to his milestone match against Carlton on Sunday.