Any thoughts on Dunstans last 2 games -32 and 30 touches , pretty much outstanding.
Would be sad to lose the guy once he has come good and he is only 23 , any thoughts on this - I really don't know if pick 8 and him is to much
Would be sad to lose the guy once he has come good and he is only 23 , any thoughts on this - I really don't know if pick 8 and him is to much
The Luke Dunstan issue is complex, and is a problem we already have, Armo.
On the keep him side, he bleeds RWB, he's finally coming good and not just a little good but showing that he can be excellent, indeed a potential future captain.
On the trade him side, he fulfils a role that we have in excess, Ross, Steele, Steven, Stevens and Acres can all fill his role and each of them have more strings to their bows. Luke's big thing is inside, he needs to be better at that role than all the above by a large margin.
Further complicating the issue is who we trade in and if we trade someone in. If that person has inside talents it pushes Luke further back down the pecking order, going from being borderline best 22 to VFL regular relying on injuries to get a game.
All our young players have trade value, and if we put Billings, Gresham and Sinclair in the mix they are all more versatile and have higher trade value, but equally are more important to keep.
Luke needs more possessions, he needs to lose some pounds, tackle more, to run more, further and faster, remember all of his team mates are progressing as well. If Luke stalls or doesn't come on as well as the others he's going from borderline to very tradeable next year.
The best outcome for Luke is if we go to the draft, Armo doesn't get back to his best and Kobe gets an injury. If we go to the draft we better not get Bonar for example, he'll be putting a lot of pressure on from underneath it maybe that for each year that we hold on to Luke we'll be having the same conversation, just as we have about the worth of keeping Armo for the last three or four years. Three years ago it was "He bleeds RWB is a potential captain, leadership potential, midfield bull, just coming good etc"
There isn't a right answer, but if we trade someone in a Sloane or Parker, even an outside runner like Gaff, then Luke might be better off looking somewhere else, the pressure for midfield time and place inn the next three years will escalate dramatically.

