{"id":1780,"date":"2026-04-30T02:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/1780\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T02:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:28:17","slug":"afl-2026-max-gawn-comments-on-melbourne-demons-sacking-of-ceo-paul-guerra-didnt-know-comments-reaction-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/1780\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Max Gawn comments on Melbourne Demons sacking of CEO Paul Guerra, didn\u2019t know, comments, reaction, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne captain Max Gawn says he had \u201cno idea at all\u201d about the club\u2019s sacking of CEO Paul Guerra after just seven months in the role.<\/p>\n

Demons president Steve Smith addressed the chief executive\u2019s departure<\/a> to media on Wednesday, with Guerra understood to be seeking legal action<\/a> regarding his shock axing.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Speaking on Triple M\u2019s Mick in the Morning<\/a> on Thursday, Gawn revealed he was caught off guard by his club\u2019s move to part ways with Guerra.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all just a bit too normal, wasn\u2019t it? I didn\u2019t know. It happened on my day off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one did (happen without me knowing)! What I am extremely glad about is that I didn\u2019t find out. I\u2019m hoping it was a decision made over a couple of weeks, and it hadn\u2019t leaked out (of the club).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not reactive. I feel like the Melbourne Football Club in the last five years has been quite reactive to a scandal or a bad news story \u2014 this feels like the opposite. This seems preventive. We\u2019re on the front foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guerra has been replaced by Dan Taylor, who was previously the CEO of Stan Entertainment and Stan Sport. His appointment marks the fifth Melbourne leadership departure in the past 18 months, with Guerra joining Gary Pert, Simon Goodwin, Brad Green (from President to board member) and Kate Roffey in vacating roles recently.<\/p>\n

INSIDE DEES\u2019 SHOCK AXING: Quiet HQ drama, links to probed Cats sponsor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018UNANIMOUS\u2019: Demons reveal reasons for \u2018blindsided\u2019 CEO\u2019s sacking as new boss unveiled<\/a><\/p>\n

Guerra launches suit against Demons | 02:29<\/p>\n

Experienced AFL figure Brian Cook will act as the interim CEO in the months before Taylor enters the role.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I had) No idea at all. Paul comes and speaks to the players a lot\u2026 we\u2019re a split football club because our football department is over at the MCG, and we\u2019re at AAMI Park and Casey, so you don\u2019t see them as much,\u201d Gawn continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cPaul made himself very present. I got along with him quite well, and he helped me as a leader. So, it was something the players didn\u2019t see coming\u2026. Or the staff. Alan Richardson (Melbourne General Manager) was going for a walk around the tan that morning, so I don\u2019t think anyone was really aware.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Demons have had a stunning start to their 2026 season, currently placed fourth after a 5-2 start under first-year coach Steven King.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne captain Max Gawn says he had \u201cno idea at all\u201d about the club\u2019s sacking of CEO Paul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2102,575,579,565,1583,2920,2922,2923,406,2921,583,2926,2085,260,262,2919,563,577,2924,576,581,2925],"class_list":{"0":"post-1780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-alan-richardson","9":"tag-brad-green","10":"tag-brian-cook","11":"tag-chief-executive","12":"tag-dan-taylor","13":"tag-demons-president","14":"tag-first-year-coach","15":"tag-football-department","16":"tag-fox-footy","17":"tag-guerraafl","18":"tag-leadership-departure","19":"tag-legal-proceedings","20":"tag-max-gawn","21":"tag-melbourne","22":"tag-melbourne-demons","23":"tag-news-story","24":"tag-paul-guerra","25":"tag-simon-goodwin","26":"tag-split-football-club","27":"tag-steven-king","28":"tag-steven-smith","29":"tag-triple-m"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}