Max Gawn says he'd be 'very, very stupid' to leave Melbourne after signing new deal

Melbourne skipper Max Gawn has shunned the option of free agency in 2021, instead signing a new four-year contract extension at the Demons.

The deal takes the ruckman through until the end of the 2025 season, with the 29-year-old saying he never really considered elsewhere.

"I've got a fair bit of faith in where the club's going," Gawn said.

"We've got some really good, elite players now in the competition, and that, mirrored with some really good young talent … it's a really good mix.

"It makes me really excited to be a part of this club for the next few years to hopefully achieve something great.

"There wasn't really an option for me to leave in my own mental state. I love the line of 'one-club player', but it's more the team we have right now.

"You'd be a very, very stupid person to leave at 29 after doing all that hard work, to miss the exciting part that we have in front of us."

Gawn has played 134 games for the club since being selected at number 34 in the 2009 national draft, and has been name an All-Australian on four occasions.

But the club has only reached the finals in one year since Gawn joined the club, playing in a preliminary final in 2018, where they were thumped by eventual premiers West Coast.

The Demons slumped to 17th in 2019, and 9th in 2020, but Gawn says free agency wasn't really an option.

"Free agency, I don't even know what it is really, I wouldn't even know how it works," he joked.

"Melbourne showed a fair bit of faith in me from the get-go and I've been on a little journey."