MELBOURNE star Max Gawn has opened up to the club's young players about how close he came to being shown the door early in his career.

In the latest episode of the Demons' 'To Hell and Back' documentary series to be aired on Sunday night, Demons coach Simon Goodwin uses Gawn as an example to the newcomers of the professionalism required to succeed in the AFL.

"'Gawny', you flapped around in the VFL for, how long?," Goodwin asked.

"Too long, six years," Gawn replied.

"Then the penny dropped," Goodwin said.

"Worked his arse off, got his diet sorted, never trains harder." 

Gawn played 39 games in his first six seasons at the Demons from 2010-15, which included missing most of two seasons with torn ACLs.

The 28-year-old is now one of the most dominant ruckmen in the competition, earning All-Australian honours in 2016, 2018 and 2019 along with being named Melbourne's best and fairest for the past two seasons, including as joint winner with Clayton Oliver last year.

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Gawn is tipped to assume the co-captaincy alongside Jack Viney or lead the club outright this year, but admitted he was lucky to keep his spot early on.

"If I wasn't 208cm, there's no way I would've stayed on the list," Gawn said.

Goodwin said it was vital the young players, including first-round draft picks Luke Jackson and Kysaiah 'Kozzy' Pickett, didn't make the same mistake.

"If there's one thing that you come out of your first year with, it's create the best habits you can," Goodwin said.

"The players that get it right, they play pretty quickly.

"Nothing can be achieved without being a hard-working person."

Jackson could get his opportunity much earlier than expected while Gawn recovers from a medial ligament strain to his left knee.

Back-up ruck Braydon Preuss will also miss 8-10 weeks after knee surgery.

Pickett is in the frame with the Demons extremely keen on the South Australian livewire to fill their need for a small forward.

Gawn implored the young players to hit the ground running, citing lightly built forward Charlie Spargo – who played 18 games in his first season in 2018, including two finals – as an example of hard work.

"It doesn't matter what size you are or how young you are, or how much footy you've played, anyone can play," Gawn said. 

The five-part series will be released at 7pm AEDT every Sunday night in the lead-up to round one on melbournefc.com.au and the Demons' social media channels, plus this Sunday on AFL.com.au.