Dunn is everywhere, expect a huge season from him this year.

Seems to be be making all the play out of defence

Very underrated around here.

His kicking skills are elite compared to most of his colleagues.

Has been our best player in the NAB Cup.

It's a shame Gawn is a bit behind the eight ball, we could really do with a ruckman.

Great news that Trengove has slimmed down, he was explosive when drafted - lets hope he regains that pace.

It's a shame Gawn is a bit behind the eight ball, we could really do with a ruckman.

Great news that Trengove has slimmed down, he was explosive when drafted - lets hope he regains that pace.

We have a ruckman.

Dunn is everywhere, expect a huge season from him this year.

Seems to be be making all the play out of defence

People may laugh, but I reckon he'll go close to b&f this year.

It's a shame Gawn is a bit behind the eight ball, we could really do with a ruckman.

Great news that Trengove has slimmed down, he was explosive when drafted - lets hope he regains that pace.

How many ruckmen do you want?

Jamar, Spencer, Pedersen, Sellar, Fitzpatrick, Clark.

Jamar was very good against St KIlda, but we couldn't get first hand to the ball after his tap work, that is not his fault. Did you watch it?

jamar has had one good season in ten........still think he has to earn the right to be called a "good ruckman". Still amazed me that he got a 3 yr deal

bring on gawn

Maia Westrupp (pronounced Myer)

And how do you pronounce his first name...?

jamar has had one good season in ten........still think he has to earn the right to be called a "good ruckman". Still amazed me that he got a 3 yr deal

bring on gawn

Yes, because an unknown with bad knees has just got to be a better option than a proven former AA ruckman.

jamar has had one good season in ten........still think he has to earn the right to be called a "good ruckman". Still amazed me that he got a 3 yr deal

bring on gawn

And when Gawn doesn't live up to his potential...what then...rubbish him and start looking for another alterntative...he got a 3 yr deal because the Footy Dept wanted to give him one....rather poor of them not to agree with your assessment wasn't it

Just a point....it pleases me so much that the redemption of Lynden Dunn is nearly complete............the unfortunate side effect being some posters on here will need a new whipping boy.........even I thought Dunny was a bit like Matt Bate always gave his absolute best but couldn't nail a possie in the team.......have even more faith in Neeld and co who have taken him and turned him into a rebounding defencer with an awful lot of upside.....he is just settling into the role.....could be anything there...and from what I have seen at training and games could be in for a big season

How many ruckmen do you want?

Jamar, Spencer, Pedersen, Sellar, Fitzpatrick, Clark.

Jamar was very good against St KIlda, but we couldn't get first hand to the ball after his tap work, that is not his fault. Did you watch it?

I'll admit I didn't see the whole game but bits I saw included the obligatory Jamar tapping the ball directly to the ground underneath him. i.e. not to advantage and with very little follow up himself. I would even go as far to say he looks timid when jumping at the ball sometimes. Part of the problem could be a co-ordination with his mids but he is 1/4 of the 'team' at the stoppage so the he has to take some responsibility for us faling to get clean ball.

Personally I'm looking forward to a fit Gawn to be given some game time to see where the future is.

I'll admit I didn't see the whole game but bits I saw included the obligatory Jamar tapping the ball directly to the ground underneath him. i.e. not to advantage and with very little follow up himself. I would even go as far to say he looks timid when jumping at the ball sometimes. Part of the problem could be a co-ordination with his mids but he is 1/4 of the 'team' at the stoppage so the he has to take some responsibility for us faling to get clean ball.

Personally I'm looking forward to a fit Gawn to be given some game time to see where the future is.

Timid is not a word I would associate with Jamar, maybe using his nous..he is getting his hand to the ball which is good....the rest will come.....St Kilda had a lot of experience in there reading the taps...and blocking the receiver......we'll ge there.....the succession plan includes the big Pencil by the way, that is why he is still on the list for two years....he is developing al lthe time as well....I would prefer to see Gawn on his comeback standing in the goal square wiith an occasional ruck up fwd........

People may laugh, but i reckon he'll go close to b&f this year.

And a definite in my super coach team....big year ahead from Dunny

Gawn will be so handy when he is ready.

Imagine putting him on for the last 10 minutes of every quarter, giving Russian a chop out.

It would be hard for opposing ruckmen to get over the top of him.

He is a good contested mark too, confirmed by what I saw at training today.

jamar didnt deserve three years, thats all im saying.....how could anyone justify it with his form so up n down, one good year in ten, has had alot of injuries and the fact he is 29yr old

bring on gawn meant i think he would be all over jamar if he consistently got games

Loving the positivity in this thread. A solid win over the Suns is paramount.

jamar didnt deserve three years, thats all im saying.....how could anyone justify it with his form so up n down, one good year in ten, has had alot of injuries and the fact he is 29yr old

bring on gawn meant i think he would be all over jamar if he consistently got games

He has one real injury, his first few years at the club he was stuck behind Jeff White and couldn't get a game, but he kept his head down and carried on, since he became the nr 1 ruck he has been pretty consistent when fit, hence the three year contract....I think he is another one that suffers comparison with the 'flash' ruckmen such as NikNat and Kreuzer....but he does his job.......on a side note with everybody's favourite ruckman, NikNat, if that groin injury he has got is on his launcn leg...we may see a different NikNat

Gawn will be so handy when he is ready.

Imagine putting him on for the last 10 minutes of every quarter, giving Russian a chop out.

It would be hard for opposing ruckmen to get over the top of him.

He is a good contested mark too, confirmed by what I saw at training today.

It's a nice theory but big Maxy doesn't move too well up forward and neither does the Russian so there's only room for one of them in the team at once unless we are specifically focussing on Gawn's development.

I went down to training and made a few notes:

In order:

Gawn started with a kick to kick drill with one of the coaches only the ball would drop short and he would have to predict the bounce etc.

Dawes and Blease ran medium pace laps.

Nicholson, Frawley, Davis, Couch and Joel Mac were doing a kick and leading to space drill (probably to improve kicking).

Kent is huge and was running with the Kiwi (I took a photo of him).

Bail was doing some kind of physical test where he then had to fill out a form.

Main group did a drill where they had to dodge a tackler.

Dawes and Blease then did run-throughs/testing.

There were loads of coaching staff on the boundary (a few were drinks people I think).

Trengove and Clark were moving and kicking very well (agree with the speed of Trengove through the middle of ground).

Strauss actually was very quick running out of defence (at one stage the coaches were all really happy with him because he stuck on Davey and did not let him get the ball).

Tappy was really lively and tackling everyone in the forward line and creating goals.

Jetta seemed to have a physical examination in the tent and then left early.

Viney was in match simulation and then did his physical test with Kent and Blease (Viney was also kicking with the Kiwi and although his kicking style looked

silly it was effective over 30m).

Viney then had 3-4 shots on goal from 40-50m out that all fell short?

The main group did a kind of match sim but it was all really up to Neeld what happened (eg take the kick 70m from the whites goal)

Hughesy (radio/comedian) came to the training session and crouched in the goal square with a helmet and let all the players have a shot at him (with ball) and not one player hit him (from 30m)

All in all, I thought the speed and skills were good although I have never been to a training session so hard to make comments.

Would be good if LD could have a quiet (or not) word with CS about the methods and benefits of digital extraction.

Well Dunne

I went down to training and made a few notes ...

Main group did a drill where they had to dodge a tackler

Have a feeling if we can nail this drill we might be in for a few wins this year.

Have a feeling if we can nail this drill we might be in for a few wins this year.

Im not sold on this. What you want is your ball carrier especially in the centre to draw hopefully more than one tackler leaving a player free.

Judd has gone from being a sublime outside player in his days to working inside drawing in two to three players at clearances and releasing the ball effectively just as he is tackled to loose teammate.

I saw our problem last year as not being about evading tackles but not having the loose to receive a handball from one of our guys who has drawn an opposition tackler (s) to him. ( there is also a fair bit of skill in being able to release the ball that split second before releasing becomes impossible due to being crushed to death in the tackle)

Im not sold on this. What you want is your ball carrier especially in the centre to draw hopefully more than one tackler leaving a player free.

Judd has gone from being a sublime outside player in his days to working inside drawing in two to three players at clearances and releasing the ball effectively just as he is tackled to loose teammate.

I saw our problem last year as not being about evading tackles but not having the loose to receive a handball from one of our guys who has drawn an opposition tackler (s) to him. ( there is also a fair bit of skill in being able to release the ball that split second before releasing becomes impossible due to being crushed to death in the tackle)

Was kinda tounge-in-cheek Nutbean - we were practicing not getting tackled. If we can hold the ball, pass it around and not get tackled, we will win more than we lose.

Im not sold on this. What you want is your ball carrier especially in the centre to draw hopefully more than one tackler leaving a player free.

Judd has gone from being a sublime outside player in his days to working inside drawing in two to three players at clearances and releasing the ball effectively just as he is tackled to loose teammate.

I saw our problem last year as not being about evading tackles but not having the loose to receive a handball from one of our guys who has drawn an opposition tackler (s) to him. ( there is also a fair bit of skill in being able to release the ball that split second before releasing becomes impossible due to being crushed to death in the tackle)

That all comes with confidence. Confidence in being able to draw a player & evade the tackle, confidence in your team mate being there to give the ball off to

Was kinda tounge-in-cheek Nutbean - we were practicing not getting tackled. If we can hold the ball, pass it around and not get tackled, we will win more than we lose.

true - because it amounts to the same thing - if we are passing the ball around and not getting tackled then we are getting men loose/free - one of our big problems last year was not enough outside run/loose players.