On 26/04/2016 at 06:35, bing181 said:

I'm not convinced. Old-style full back, stuck in a rapidly evolving game. Game gone past him?

He will get overtaken by Oscar McDonald by the start of next year IMO. 

Unfairly maligned

I've watched him when the chips are down. He is the first player to pull someone off the ground if they've made a mistake and is one of the first in sticking up for a teammate, see Salem vs Vickery on the weekend...

  On 26/04/2016 at 06:46, DeeSpencer said:

Top form Lynden Dunn doesn't get turned by Troy Chaplin. 

I think that was a simple case of Dunn not knowing Chaplin only has a left foot. He was trying to corral him towards the boundary line. Can be forgiven for that error.

One thing I've noticed since round 3 is that Dunn and T Mac don't stray up the ground, and pretty much play as stay at home backmen. We're not getting caught out with height mismatches as we were in the NAB Challenge and rounds 1 - 3. The zone in the backline has tempered, and even Wagner and Jetta don't stray too far up ground.

Dunn and T Mac are our best 2 key defenders, and that will remain until O Mac develops.

  On 26/04/2016 at 10:06, jnrmac said:

I think that was a simple case of Dunn not knowing Chaplin only has a left foot. He was trying to corral him towards the boundary line. Can be forgiven for that error.

An AFL player should never be forgiven for that...how long have they both been playing and how many reviews would have Dunn seen of Chaplin let alone played him (not necessarily position). Surely he should know which foot he kicks off.

I like Lyndon in the team but he was poor early against the Tiges, I thought he redeemed himself as the game went on.

  On 26/04/2016 at 06:35, bing181 said:

I'm not convinced. Old-style full back, stuck in a rapidly evolving game. Game gone past him?

I'm not convinced. Old-style poster, stuck in superficial assessments based on outdated views, and shows no understanding of zone or team defence.

Game gone past him?

Dunny does a lot of body work pushing players out of contests that goes unnoticed. His kicking out is good and his occasional long shot for goal is a bonus.

  On 26/04/2016 at 10:13, rjay said:

An AFL player should never be forgiven for that...how long have they both been playing and how many reviews would have Dunn seen of Chaplin let alone played him (not necessarily position). Surely he should know which foot he kicks off.

I like Lyndon in the team but he was poor early against the Tiges, I thought he redeemed himself as the game went on.

Yeah. Off with his head.

Love the brush he's a gun

  On 26/04/2016 at 10:08, mo64 said:

One thing I've noticed since round 3 is that Dunn and T Mac don't stray up the ground, and pretty much play as stay at home backmen. We're not getting caught out with height mismatches as we were in the NAB Challenge and rounds 1 - 3. The zone in the backline has tempered, and even Wagner and Jetta don't stray too far up ground.

Dunn and T Mac are our best 2 key defenders, and that will remain until O Mac develops.

Good pick up.

Much easier to have that structure now that our forwards and mids have a defensive mindset.

No more 'brown's cows'!

Edited April 26, 20168 yr by Lucifer's Hero

He's a champion bloke and still on of our best defenders.

  On 26/04/2016 at 10:06, jnrmac said:

I think that was a simple case of Dunn not knowing Chaplin only has a left foot. He was trying to corral him towards the boundary line. Can be forgiven for that error.

I think in Dunn's case he can. Maybe not in that instance though. One criticism I have of Dunn is that he's too willing to put the ball over the boundary line when he could otherwise win a 50/50 ball.

  On 26/04/2016 at 10:52, Lucifer's Hero said:

Good pick up.

Much easier to have that structure now that our forwards and mids have a defensive mindset.

No more 'brown's cows'!

On the other hand, Salem & Lumumba & Hunt are moving up the ground more & either getting into space or being put into a position where they're able to create space for others. This is just as important for zone defence. Since Dunn has been back (and Lumumba has been just as important) , the defence has been much better organised.

Our forwards are now more defensive & our defence is more attacking!

  On 26/04/2016 at 06:55, Maldonboy38 said:

His physical presence and maturity in our backline is what allows MacDonald to fly formarks, Jetta to dodge around people, and players like Wagner and Hunt to develop. I love him as a player and reckon he would be a fairly decent human being as well. Daniher almost single-handedly stuffed his career up, and to see where Dunny is today is a huge tick for hard work, perseverance and resilience. I wish the Dees had some more like him. 

Is he Matthew Scarlett as a full back? No, but then Matthew Scarlett was the only Matthew Scarlett. 

We are so much bett3r with Dunn in our 22.

No he isn't a Scarlett but he does man up on the week's designated gorilla most times unlike Scarlett in his later years and Fletcher and Gibbo who manned up on no one and just played the lose spoiler come rebounding backman. Yes they have/had immense talent but in good sides they also had a pretty good gig going on there. Dunn has come through the Neeld trauma years seemingly in unscathed. Rivers got out asap, Chip got out as soon as he could and Garland has been damaged, perhaps beyond repair. Dunn soldiers on and I respect him for that, a backman' backman dare I say. 

Dunn has been one of our most important players for years now. His form shouldn't surprise anyone. He has done some big jobs down back for us over some really dark times.

He will never be our best but he is so damn important in that back six.

With all the crap our team has served up in recent years, it's just as well we had our own Dunny on the ground!  (Sorry, guys!  Couldn't help myself!)

Seriously, I think he's still a very important cog in our backline.  Very pleased for him to be able to be part of the recent success.

 

  On 26/04/2016 at 10:06, jnrmac said:

I think that was a simple case of Dunn not knowing Chaplin only has a left foot. He was trying to corral him towards the boundary line. Can be forgiven for that error.

I saw it as just letting him get an extra step on him and then missing a tackle. But it's possible as well. Although Chaplin, Vickery and Riewoldt would've been the 3 players Dunn studied on tape prior to the game. Should be easy enough to remember which is the left footer.

Dunn last year often played the goal keeper role too much. Trying to get back in case kicks fell short instead of pushing up and stopping a man. So if that's part of his style it might explain some resistance to embracing a zone role. 

His foot skills and strength in the air and on the ground are really exciting when he's an attacking player, so I hope he starts to get involved more. The way he weaved out of trouble deep in the back pocket early in the first quarter was as classy as any tall defender in the comp.

We don't have any good replacements for him at this point

Dunny stiffens up the back line and his long penetrating kicks get the ball the hell out of the enemy's forward 50 with ease, we have played so much better with him in the team and hopefully at 28 we can get another 2-3 years from him. He has battled through the dark times, let him enjoy a bit of sunshine like the rest of us!!!

  On 26/04/2016 at 08:29, bush demon said:

I'm so over this flimsy 'rating' + critiquing of players like they are tradeable swapcards.  Either you support the guys on the ground or you don't. The defenders aren't sitting in a bar in front of a flat-screen; they make instant decisions for better or worse to break the lines or improve the team position. they don't have the luxury of being internet scribes assessing options from a distance. Lynden Dunn has been a warrior and a true demon for many years now. I get sick of this whittling-down that is so prevalent here. As if the players could ever come to the standards of the footballer/typists who lord over them. 

Not sure why you quoted me. When I said I rate him, I was using it as an idiom of "I think he is good." I thought Id say that much because a few seemed to be putting poor Dunn down. 

He is probably our only backman who can play body on body - most teams have someone in their forward half that Dunn is a good match up for - players that aren't too mobile. He doesn't offer any run but that is more than compensated for by the penetration in his kicking which is a weapon ( and the balance of our backline does run).

 

If he'd played against Essendon he'd at least got body on Daniher, not let him have a free run at the ball

  On 27/04/2016 at 04:58, loges said:

If he'd played against Essendon he'd at least got body on Daniher, not let him have a free run at the ball

If he'd played against Essendon on Daniher we'd be 4-1 instead of 3-2.

Why wasn't he played at the beginning of the season? He was available wasn't he? I'm just surmising, but I wonder weather Roosy doesn't rate his 'footy smarts'. 

What do others think?

QD

i love him