Senior Josh Dunkley (2022-)

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DUNKLEY REVEALS THE DEFINING FACTOR BEHIND LEAVING BULLDOGS AND CHOOSING BRISBANE
New Lion Josh Dunkley has admitted a lifestyle change was the key factor behind leaving the Western Bulldogs.

Dunkley departs the Western Bulldogs after seven seasons at the club that culminated in a best and fairest in 2022 to cap off the 25-year-old’s best season at the top level to date.
He was forced to wait until the final half hour of the trade period with Brisbane and the Bulldogs in a trade standoff but said he received a call from manager Liam Pickering 15 minutes before the deadline to confirm the trade was done.

When asked why he chose to leave the Dogs instead of renewing his contract, Dunkley stated the chance to move to Queensland – where his partner Tippah is from – was too good to pass up.

“I’ve had a great time at the Western Bulldogs, I've achieved some ultimate highs and been through some tough times with injuries too,” he told Sportsday.

“For me, it was more a lifestyle choice and the opportunity to move north. My partner Tippah is from Queensland, so that’s where we sort of see ourselves settling in.

“She’s now playing netball in Adelaide but once she’s done in Adelaide playing netball, we’ll move up there and settle down with a family I think.

“It’s a good opportunity to move up now and build the foundations, but also I think the footy opportunity comes with it as well.

“They’ve built such a great list. I’m really excited to be able to play in the midfield and play my role for the team and hopefully have some success as well.”

Dunkley had also attracted significant interest from Port Adelaide, who reportedly believed they were in the box seat to secure the midfielder’s signature.

But a strong initial relationship with Chris Fagan was one of the aspects that sealed the deal.

“It was more around the team and the way I fit in,” Dunkley responded when asked why he chose the Lions over other interstate teams.

“The lifestyle was obviously there... but at the same time, I’ve built a really good relationship with Chris Fagan and Dom (Ambrogio) the list manager.

“That’s not to say I didn’t have a good relationship elsewhere with Port Adelaide and the likes and even at the Dogs, so I thought it was a great opportunity for me that I couldn’t really pass up.”

Dunkley averaged 25.4 touches and just under a goal per game in 2022 and added he was “honoured” to be able to play alongside Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale next year.

The former Dog is expecting to fly up to Brisbane next week to meet his new teammates for the first time and tour the Lions’ freshly constructed training base in Springfield.
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Josh Dunkley backs push for easier player movement - Sportsday

Josh Dunkley says he'd support players being given more power over where they play their football, but clubs should also be given more flexibility to move-on players that are no longer required.
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Get to Know Josh Dunkley

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Josh Dunkley is a coodabeen Swan who originally wanted to be a Tiger but instead became a Dog. Then two years ago he wanted to become a Bomber but stayed a Dog and now he’s a Lion, set to finish his AFL career at a club he was desperate to avoid when he joined the AFL seven years ago.

The final stop in a remarkable football journey fell into place for the 25-year-old midfielder 14 minutes before the end of the AFL trade period yesterday (Wednesday) after he’d spent a nerve-wracking afternoon and evening following proceedings on the family farm at Yarram in Gippsland.

Dunkley could have been excused for having some horrible flashbacks to the corresponding time in 2020, when, still contracted to the Western Bulldogs for two years, he requested a trade to Essendon. All was on track until the Bombers, despite having committed to him, could not to get a trade done.

As the clock ticked down towards the 7.30pm trade deadline (Melbourne time) yesterday Dunkley, this time out of contract, watched anxiously with the rest of the football world.

His direct line of communication was via his manager Liam Pickering, who had joined the Brisbane brainstrust in the designed Lions room at Marvel Stadium for the last hour of the trade period.

Shortly after Pickering walked into the room the AFL trade radio team of Damien Barrett, Stephen Silvagni and Matthew Lloyd, watching on a hidden silent camera which Pickering was not aware of, saw him shake hands with Brisbane officials. They assumed the deal was done and prematurely trumpeted as much.

There was still work to do. With the clubs allocated rooms alphabetically, Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs were at opposition ends of the stadium. But Lions list boss Dom Ambrogio was in constant communication by phone with to his Dogs counterpart Sam Power, younger brother of Lions triple premiership player Luke Power.

It was gripping viewing, even without knowing exactly what was going on, and as the clock showed 7.16pm Ambrogio and Power struck a deal. Ambrogio increased the Brisbane trade offer slightly, throwing in a future fourth round pick to get his man.

It was a massive end to an A-plus trade period for the club, who traded in Dunkley and Hawthorn veteran Jack Gunston and secured enough draft points to guarantee father/son pair Will Ashcroft and Jaspa Fletcher in the draft, while losing only free agent Dan McStay (Collingwood) and Tom Berry (Gold Coast).

Dunkley, winner of the Bulldogs’ best & fairest this year and a high-quality inside/outside midfielder with strong leadership characteristics, is a massive coup. Yet if you’d told him as an 18-year-old draft hopeful in 2015 he was playing for the Lions he would have been devastated.

It all goes back to the early days for Dunkley, whose father Andrew played 217 games for the Sydney Swans including the 1996 AFL grand final after the club secured a Supreme Court injunction to delay the hearing of a striking charge laid on video evidence on the Wednesday of grand final week.

The judge ruled that expecting Dunkley to face the tribunal one day after being reported and two days before the grand final would deny natural justice, given the club’s lack of time to prepare a defence, so he was cleared to play. When the case was later heard he was suspended for three matches.

Dunkley Jnr was born in Sydney 103 days after the 1996 grand final but at age three, after his father had retired from football, moved with his family to a farm at Yarram, 220km east of Melbourne.

There was Andrew, his wife Lisa, Josh, older sister Lara, who now plays with the Queensland Firebirds in the Suncorp Super Netball competition, and younger brother Kyle, who played five AFL games with Melbourne in 2019 after being drafted in the Mid-Season Rookie Draft.

They are a tight-knit family, highly motivated and competitive, as was evidenced by a story about the Dunkley brothers posted on the AFL Players’ Association website in June 2019.

In it, Kyle Dunkley recounted driving home after a heavy loss on a day in which his father, eager to pass on the principles of hard work and disciplined to his children, had been coaching. His sister and brother had also played while his mother was on half-time oranges duty.

The coach, who would regularly drive anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours to attend his children’s sport, suggested they complete a beep test (a multistage fitness test designed to measure aerobic endurance) on their arrival home to make up for a disappointing on-field performance.

“We’d just copped a serve in the car on the way home so we thought it was in our best interests to do (the beep test),” Kyle told AFLPlayers.com.au, explaining how the family had set up a beep test course on the property, with the running track spanning their driveway.

It was all part of a one-in-all-in mentality, the story said. Often, Lara would play in the ruck for Josh’s team, with Kyle, three years younger than Josh, playing up an age-group.

From Wednesday night social badminton competitions to ballet, the Dunkley’s tried their hand at everything.

“It was Dad’s idea for us to join the local ballet group,” Josh said. “Mum and Lara were doing it so it made sense for us to do it too but Dad got ‘Ky’ and I over the line by saying (Essendon champion) James Hird had done ballet for his flexibility.

“There wasn’t much around so it was always the five of us hanging out and I think that’s why we’re so close,” Kyle said.

Josh graduated in 2014 from Gippsland Grammar, which also counts among its alumni former Federal politician and Essendon Football Club president Lindsay Tanner, six-time Olympic rower and ‘Oarsome Foursome’ member James Tomkins and comedian Will Anderson.

Having played his first football in the Auskick program at Yarram, he was a product of the Gippsland Power in the now NAB League and was a two-year member of the AFL Academy – in 2013-14 as a bottom-age player and 2014-15 as a top-ager. He was also an occasional member of the Swans Academy.

Among his AFL Academy teammates were subsequent Brisbane draftees Rhys Mathieson, Josh Schache and Sam Skinner, plus Carlton star Jacob Weitering, Essendon’s Darcy Parish, Sydney’s Callum Mills, GWS draftee Jacob Hopper, who was traded to Richmond yesterday, and, in his first year only, Brisbane draftee Ben Keays and current Brisbane player Callum AhChee.

In 2015 Dunkley captained a Power side that included five other draftees – brothers Harry McKay (Carlton) and Ben McKay (North), Tom Papley (Sydney), Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (Essendon) and Skinner. He also played six games with the Richmond VFL side, where he quickly established a strong group of friends.

As the 2015 draft approached Dunkley faced a real dilemma. He wanted to stay in Victoria to be close to family and was privately hoping to go to Richmond, but he was attracting interest from several interstate clubs.

So, deciding that if he had to go interstate he would prefer Sydney, he nominated as a would-be Swans father/son selection. At least he was familiar with the club where his father had played, and at least he wouldn’t have to go to Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth.

In pre-draft ‘guestimations’ Dunkley was tipped to go anywhere from 10-30 in the draft, and was linked strongly to Richmond, Adelaide, Carlton, Western Bulldogs, West Coast, Gold Coast and Sydney.

But the draft on 24 November at the Adelaide Convention Centre was full of surprises. His good mate Weitering went to Carlton at #1, Brisbane took Schache at #2 and Sydney matched a Melbourne bid on Mills at #3. Brisbane drafted Eric Hipwood at #14 before Richmond used their first pick on Daniel Rioli at #15.

Dunkley knew then he wasn’t going to Richmond, whose next pick was #50. And with four of the next nine picks belonging to interstate clubs he would have been extra worried had he not taken the safety net of the Swans father/son option.

At #16 GWS took Harry Himmelberg before Tom Doedee went to Adelaide at #17 and Gold Coast took Brayden Fiorini at #20. At #24 Brisbane took Keays before the Bulldogs nominated Dunkley at #25.

So it would be Sydney right? Wrong! The Swans, having used picks #33-36-37-43 to secure Mills, chose not to match the Bulldogs’ bid for Dunkley, and later took Tyrone Leonardis from the Northern Knights at #51 and Jordan Dawson from SANFL club Sturt at #56.

Leonardis never played an AFL game and after six years and 64 games at Sydney Dawson requested and was granted a trade home to Adelaide, where he was runner-up in the B&F this year and finished third in the Swans B&F in 2021.

Dunkley, the first potential father/son selection overlooked under the AFL’s new draft bidding rules, wasn’t happy to be shunned by his father’s club but at least he had gone to a Melbourne club.

He shared his AFL debut with the Dogs in Round 1 2016 with 22-year-old West Australian Marcus Adams, with whom he will be reunited at the Lions next year, and 10 months later, having shared a flat in Melbourne with his sister through his first AFL season, the draft was all forgotten.

At 19 in just his 17th AFL game he was the youngest member of a Dogs side that beat the Swans in the 2016 AFL Grand Final.

After a shoulder injury restricted him to seven games in 2017 Dunkley played 54 games in 2018-19 and the Covid-shortened season of 2020. He was fifth in the B&F in 2018 and second in 2019, when he was a member of the 40-man All-Australian squad.

After his ill-fated efforts to get to Essendon at the end of 2020, reportedly in search of more midfield time, he played 15 games with the Dogs in 2021 and 23 games in 2022, when he averaged 25.4 possessions, kicked 18 goals and polled a club-high 14 votes in the Brownlow Medal to finish equal 13th overall, equal with Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage.

Dunkley polled 231 votes in the Bulldogs B&F to win from Tom Liberatore (211), Aaron Naughton (180), captain Marcus Bontempelli (174) and Jack Macrae (170).

He was just the fourth player from the 2015 AFL Draft to win a club B&F behind Weitering, Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver, who was pick #4, and Fremantle draftee turned discard Sam Collins, who was the 2020 B&F winner at the Gold Coast.

Dunkley, whose Toowoomba-born girlfriend Tippah Dwan plays with the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Netball League after going to school at Somerville House in Brisbane, now ranks 12th in games among the 2015 Draft Class.

He is fourth in possessions behind only Oliver, Essendon’s Darcy Parish, who was pick #5, and Mills. He is third behind Oliver and Mills in Brownlow Medal votes, having polled 15 votes to finish equal 19th in 2019.

After playing his first two years at the Dogs in jumper #20 Dunkley has spent the last five years in #5, which is now vacant at the Lions following Mitch Robinson’s retirement. Also free is Tom Berry’s #13 and Dan McStay’s #25 and #8-41-42 not worn at AFL level by Ely Smith, Devidas Uosis and Mitch Cox.
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Is Dunkley's Defence the Missing Piece?

Josh Dunkley will make Brisbane a better team in 2023, but the Lions can't believe his addition alone will take them to the promised land.

Dunkley's signing late in the Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period was a coup for the club, adding to an already loaded midfield.

On the surface, he's the perfect complementary piece to an engine room that includes Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale, Hugh McCluggage, Jarryd Lyons, Jarrod Berry and captain Dayne Zorko.

At 25 years of age and with 116 games of experience, Dunkley is in the early stages of his prime, fresh off winning the Charles Sutton Medal in his final season at the Western Bulldogs.

He's a ball-winner. He's combative. And for Brisbane, perhaps most importantly, he's defensively minded.

The Lions have as much talent as any list in the competition, with Dunkley, triple premiership forward Jack Gunston, and incoming father-son draftee Will Ashcroft, set to add to that.

Winning two against-the-odds finals last season against Richmond and Melbourne was a huge step forward.

Chris Fagan's team showed a resilience that had been questioned in big games, holding off the rampaging Tigers in an elimination final and then over-running the defending premier Melbourne at the MCG in a semi-final, where they hadn't won for eight years.

Those wins were full of merit and laid out a blueprint for how Brisbane could take another step towards a Grand Final appearance in 2023.

What happened in the preliminary final against Geelong should be front of mind for the players during their pre-season, but not to totally override the positives from the previous fortnight.

For the second half of 2022 – and then again in the loss to the Cats – it was the Lions' full-ground defensive actions that cost them.

At times they weren't good enough at keeping the ball locked inside their forward 50, and regularly off turnovers the forwards and midfielders were slow to react and even slower to run defensively.

Deven Robertson was inserted for the elimination final against Richmond – his first senior game in 10 weeks – and was given a tagging job on Dion Prestia, and then Trent Cotchin when the former went off injured.

In the semi-final against Melbourne he went to Clayton Oliver, and did a solid job until half time, before Jarrod Berry completely flipped the match with his stopping job on the Demons' dynamic on-baller.

It's not something that can happen every week, but the defensive midfield assignments worked.

With some brave selections and a tinker to its game style, Brisbane showed what could happen when it balanced attack with defence and ball-winners with runners.

Dunkley will help that.

His addition might complicate things at the selection table, but if Brisbane retains its balance, it can move forward.

Berry showed in September he's an asset in the middle of the ground rather than on the wing, while Robertson's energy and diligence to a defensive task showed he is worthy of more senior games.

There's also Cam Rayner and Zac Bailey as options to add speed and power.

How Fagan and his coaching staff land will be fascinating.

While Dunkley will walk in alongside Neale and McCluggage as automatic starters, the rest should be – and will be – fighting for the remaining spots as Brisbane strives to stops its opponents as much as it tries to punish them with ball-in-hand.
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I really enjoyed his interview on the Roar Deal; sounds very invested in the club, Queensland and in himself given how he invests in recovery mechanisms at his house - saunas, ice baths, gyms etc.

Hearing Will Ashcroft talk and how professional he is, it is only going to go to another level learning from the likes of Josh and Lachie.

So glad Josh elected to come to the Lions.
 
‘What comes out is not right’: Dunkley sets record straight on Dogs exit, new Lions beginning

Josh Dunkley wants to clear the air.

Comments here and there from both the Dunkley and Western Bulldogs camps have piqued the interest of the footy public, questioning whether there was ill-will between the two parties in the lead-up to Dunkley’s departure at the end of last year.

The man at the centre of it all was at pains to set the record straight ahead of the first season at his new club.

“It just kind of annoys me a little bit when people talk about little things that come up. I don’t have anything against the Dogs,” he told foxfooty.com.au.

“What they did for me as a player and person was incredible. I’m very thankful for that and I would never go out of my way to talk them down.”

Dunkley isn’t the first player to take up a lucrative offer from a rival organisation.

Like many who take those offers, Dunkley said, it was more a case of what was on offer than what he was leaving behind.

“There’s no underlying issues. It’s just what happens,” he explained.

“I feel like the game now, you look at all the American sports, everyone moves everywhere and it’s for a number of reasons. My reasons are my reasons, I don’t really have to voice all those reasons that everyone wants me to.

“At the end of the day, I have full respect for the Western Bulldogs footy club, full respect. They did everything to make me the player and person I am today, led by Bevo (Dogs coach Luke Beveridge) and all the boys. I’ve still got good relationships with all the lads.”

Comments about the Lions’ training program ruffled the feathers of some Dogs fans, who took them as a backhand to the Dogs.

Again, the loudest critic of this interpretation was Dunkley himself.



“When all that stuff came out, I was probably more disappointed for the people involved like Matt Inness (the Dogs’ high performance boss). I love Matty, he’s one of the best guys going around,” Dunkley stressed.

“To hear people sort of talking him down affects me, because what he’s done for me has been incredible. He works as hard as anyone that I know. So it’s just disappointing in that regard.

“I feel like what comes out is not right and I hate seeing people suffer because of that type of stuff.

“Every AFL club has different theories and every performance manager has a different way of approaching it. Each to their own really. At the end of the day, I was just talking about the pre-season, I wasn’t talking about anything else.”

The reality for the Dogs is that they couldn’t offer what the Lions did in terms of a lifestyle change - one that has worked wonders for the likes of new teammates Joe Daniher and Lincoln McCarthy in the past.

Roam the outdoors in Melbourne for one week and you’ll be met with weather changes galore, which quickly drills in a mindset to expect the unexpected when leaving home.

In Queensland, things are often far less complex.

“Obviously the humidity and all that stuff comes into it,” Dunkley said.

“It makes you feel better, waking up sometimes you’re really sore and if it’s freezing cold outside you’re a bit concerned going to training, but up there it’s warm so you’re just like righto, let’s get into it.

“I’m a big believer in doing saunas. When I was in Melbourne, I had a sauna at home and now I feel like I don’t really need it because you’re constantly sweating. You go for a five-minute walk and you start sweating. It’s great.

“I couldn’t really be any happier at the moment. Obviously everything that everyone knows that Queensland is coming through and I’m noticing it as well, so it’s great.”

Back during the trade period, the skies were for Dunkley and partner Tippah in Fiji, but his future was clouded, as negotiations over his future dragged on right until the deadline.

Unlike discussions with Essendon in 2020, however, this move ended up coming to fruition.

It involved multiple picks and plenty of stress for Dunkley’s manager Liam Pickering, but paid off in the nick of time.

“The trade period was pretty hectic. I was in Fiji with my partner Tippah, that was at the start in the first couple of days. Straightaway I thought there might have been some movement, but then turns out there wasn‘t. It felt like it was always going to be a last minute thing,” Dunkley recalled.

“I came home and went back to the farm and just spent the whole time with my family. It was very tough, it was hard because you’re not sure, you hear all these different things and everyone’s talking about pre-season draft and it was a it was a tough time.

“Looking back, I didn’t really enjoy the journey, but it wasn’t that big a deal, you look back now and you’re like righto, it got done.

“That’s the main thing and we move on, I’m thankful to both parties for finally getting the deal done - I think there was like 15 minutes to go.

Now that the deal is done and Dunkley is a Lion, the prospect of what he’ll bring to the premiership contenders is a tantalising prospect.

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Fresh off winning the best and fairest award at the Dogs, Dunkley has at times been the most damaging midfielder in the competition forward of centre.

It’s a difficult balance to get right, but the rewards for the Lions would be considerable if they can crack the code.

“I’ll still have a similar sort of mindset, mid-forward but probably a little bit more midfield to be honest,” he said.

“I can’t remember how much I ended up playing last year, people were saying like 50-50 mid-forward. I just wanted to play where the team needed me and I‘ll have that same approach in Brisbane, because we’ve got a good list and good team.

“Whatever it takes for us to win a game, that’s what I’ll do. I reckon it will be a little bit more midfield and then float forward when I can and hopefully kick some goals.”

Dunkley is one of the Lions’ big three recruits this off-season, with ready-made draftee Will Ashcroft and former Hawthorn spearhead Jack Gunston.

Those three will be looking to prove themselves the difference between the Lions’ near misses and a sought-after premiership under Chris Fagan.

“He’s been massive,” Dunkley said of Gunston.

“I remember before we even got traded, we actually did an appearance together, we were just talking about it and being able to relate obviously, with him winning three.

“Talking about the potential move up north, it was sort of a bit of fire in the belly for both of us, we both haven’t been there for a few years. It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to what the future holds.”

A premiership at the Lions would be Dunkley’s second after a whirlwind debut year at the Dogs back in 2016.

This one, however, would come at a far different stage in his career.

“That was my first year. To come out of the draft and then play in an AFL premiership, it just happened so quickly. Everyone at that time was like ‘jeez, like, it’s such a big deal’ and I felt like, not that I didn’t appreciate it, but it probably just felt like a whirlwind,” he said.

“It all happened so quick ... you probably don’t enjoy it as much as what you probably should. After that, you go through the rollercoaster of emotions and injuries and whatever it might be and you work through.

“In 2021, we played in Perth in the grand final against the Dees and even if we won that, that would have been, I feel even more special than what 16’ was probably to a few of us because we were so young in 16.

“To win another one now would be incredible, words can’t describe how much I want to get back there and win the ultimate. I’ll do anything.”
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Brisbane star Josh Dunkley says ‘chemistry’ is building in Lions squad

Josh Dunkley has embraced living outside Melbourne’s footy bubble and being part of a Brisbane Lions team only just “scratching the surface” on what they can achieve this season.

The former Western Bulldogs star is quickly finding his top form for a Lions side aiming for a fifth successive win when they take on Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.

Brisbane will have to beat the Blues without stalwart pair Dayne Zorko and Daniel Rich, who are each facing two to three weeks on the sidelines after suffering respective hamstring and calf injuries in the Lions’ 48-point weekend win over Fremantle.

However, Dunkley is confident his side overcome the losses of Zorko and Rich, pointing to Brisbane’s depth and believing that with each week, a Lions team that started the season with a handful of new faces is becoming more settled and unified.

“It’s a hard one with those two going out,” Dunkley said on Tuesday.

“They’re obviously both very senior players in the group and help us on both sides of the ball.

“Their creativeness to be able to set us up moving forward has been really good, but it is promising the way the (Lions’) VFL (team) has played this year.

“We’ve got guys that are willing to step up and have been playing some consistent footy there, so it’s an exciting opportunity for those boys that come in,

“Everyone talks about getting new players in ... and being able to build that chemistry.

“Now we’re starting to learn how each other plays, I feel like we’re only just scratching the surface.”

The Lions haven’t been beaten since losing by 14 points to the Bulldogs on March 30.

At that stage it left Brisbane with a record of two losses and a win from their opening matches, but since then, Dunkley and the Lions haven’t looked back.

“It was great experience,” the 26-year-old midfielder said.

“I feel like once you play against your old club, it’s that line-in-the-sand type of moment. Now I know that I’m part of the Brisbane Lions and the future’s exciting.”

And that’s both on and off the field for Dunkley, who said living in Brisbane allowed him to enjoy life away from football.

“It is awesome the way that you can get outside of footy up here. You can really leave that outside lifestyle, and it’s been nice to be able to relax a little bit away from the club,” he said.

“The club does a great job in being able to allow us to do something else outside of footy, and for me, that’s studying real estate, so I’m doing a bit of that at the moment, which is cool.

“It’s a well-balanced lifestyle up here. I’m loving it so far and looking forward to seeing what it has to hold.”
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Josh Dunkley, Our Two-Way Weapon

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Although Lachie Neale won his second Marcus Ashcroft Medal in Saturday night's big win over Gold Coast, Josh Dunkley again showed why his off-season acquisition has been critical to the Lions' 8-2 start to the season.

Not only did the former Western Bulldog rack up 29 disposals, including seven clearances and a match-high 11 score involvements, he kept Suns bull Matt Rowell relatively quiet in a head-to-head midfield battle.

Rowell, among the AFL's top five in clearances before the round, finished with 18 touches and just three takeaways.

Executing this role assigned to him by coach Chris Fagan went a long way to helping Brisbane record the 16.11 (107) to 9.10 (64) victory at The Gabba.

It wasn’t the first time this season that Dunkley has done a shutdown job on an opposition’s star player.

Two weeks ago against Carlton, the first-year Lion put the clamps on Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps by keeping him to 17 disposals.

Making Dunkley’s performance even more impressive was that he himself amassed 33 disposals, 14 contested possessions, 13 tackles, six clearances and 555 metres gained.

And now with Rowell's scalp too, he is proving to be the two-way weapon the Lions have craved.
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Slam Dunks: The major change recruit has noticed since Lions move

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JOSH Dunkley is loving life as a Lion, but the robust midfielder said there's one thing that's taken him a little longer to transition from the Western Bulldogs than he thought.

Brisbane's gameplan.

Dunkley is having a wonderful first season in Lions colours after his off-season move from the Dogs and said adapting to Brisbane's method has taken some getting used to.

While Luke Beveridge's team is renowned for its fast hands, high-disposal style of play, Chris Fagan's team plays ultra-direct, getting the ball forward in the least disposals possible.

This season alone, the Bulldogs are ranked sixth for average disposals a game and the Lions 16th.

Speaking to AFL.com.au ahead of Friday night's game against Sydney at the Gabba, Dunkley said it was a mental shift he needed to make.

"That's the biggest thing I've noticed," he said.

"The disposal numbers aren't as big here, but I haven't looked at that to rate my game, I just rate it on impact and here it's a lot about that, the impact you have with the footy and the territory game.

"We've got a dangerous forward line and you want to get it in there as quick as possible to get one-on-one with defenders.

"For me, that's been a little change that has probably been a big change in my mind to the way I've played before. I'm really enjoying it."

Dunkley would almost certainly be in the top three of Brisbane's best and fairest count to date, averaging just shy of 26 disposals, six clearances and seven tackles a game.

The 26-year-old has added a defensive balance to a Brisbane midfield blessed with ball-winners and polished users Lachie Neale, Hugh McCluggage and draftee Will Ashcroft among others.

In wins over Carlton and Gold Coast, Dunkley has noticeably been assigned to bulls Patrick Cripps and Matt Rowell at stoppages, quelling their influence and having impacting victories with his two-way work.

"I try and match myself up with the best mid on the opposition team anyway because I feel it's a good challenge for me," he said.

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"I've always prided myself on that defensive side of my game.

"I feel if I get that side of my game right, then the rest of it will flow. That's been the biggest thing I wanted to bring to the team.

"If I get given a role, I get given a role, but I'll be looking to take the most dangerous player anyway."

Dunkley conceded it not only took time for him to adapt to the gameplan, but also to his new teammates after changing clubs for the first time in his senior career.

He thought the pre-season was going to be long enough, but it took a little longer.

"It probably takes a good five or six rounds to really get used to playing in an AFL game with the boys," he said.

"You can play all the practice games, do all the match sim you want during the pre-season, but until you get out here on game day, it's just a different feel.

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"I feel like we've fully embraced each other.

"One week it might be Lach that gets off the chain, the other week it might be Hughy, the other week it might by Ashy.

"We're still trying to build that even contribution. You might not get a lick of the ice cream every week, but it's about celebrating each others' little wins.

"We've still definitely got room for growth."
Click to expand...
 
Dunkley: We'll Bounce Back This Week

dunkin.png


Brisbane will be without rebounding defender Keidean Coleman for Sunday's match against Fremantle, while ruckman Oscar McInerney is also in doubt to make the trip west.

Coleman copped a ball to the face from point-blank range late in Saturday's loss to Gold Coast, with the resulting eye injury expected to cost him this week and possibly the following.

McInerney hobbled off late against the Suns with a sore ankle and must be considered doubtful with the long trip and Darcy Fort waiting in the wings.

Coleman's absence could open the door for Daniel Rich to revive his season after the veteran defender was dropped seven weeks ago, initially for a training block and then not recalled.

Brisbane should be bolstered by the return of dynamic half-forward/midfielder Zac Bailey after he missed the past two matches with a calf problem, although he'll have to prove his fitness later in the week.

Lachie Neale was also absent from the Lions' training session on Tuesday with illness, but is not considered in any doubt.

Neale was held to just 17 disposals by a tight Touk Miller run-with role at the weekend, and Lions midfielder Josh Dunkley said they could do more to help the Brownlow medallist in future.

"Individually, looking back I could have helped him a little bit more," Dunkley said.

"I still felt like he was playing some good footy across some of those quarters and in the end the ball just bounced Touk's way a little bit more than Lachie's.

"We can definitely help him more that's for sure.

"Moving forward we'll look at that and hopefully help him out a little bit more."

It was the first match for Brisbane following the loss of Will Ashcroft to a season-ending knee injury, with the Suns getting on top in the middle of the ground.

Dunkley was confident the Lions would come up with the right combination to cover Ashcroft's absence, but acknowledged the impact of the first-year star.

"Ashy's a big loss," he said.

"His impact forward of centre is big for us. We did miss him a lot, but I think we've got a lot of guys ready to step up.

"On the weekend it probably didn't look like that, but I know moving forward we're going to get that output from a lot of guys that will help us cover Ashy.

"We'll bounce back this week."
Click to expand...
 
Lions Trio Nominated for AFLPA MVP

MVP: Josh Dunkley, Lachie Neale, Harris Andrews

Most Courageous: Josh Dunkley
Click to expand...
 
Dunkley eyes second premiership medallion

At age 15, Josh Dunkley won a senior football premiership with Sale.

At 19, he won an AFL premiership with the Western Bulldogs.

Tomorrow, he will be out to secure his second AFL premiership and first as a Brisbane Lion.

Dunkley, from Yarram, has had a stellar maiden season with Brisbane, enhancing the Lions’ already formidable midfield mix.

In Round 8, Chris Fagan hailed Dunkley’s shutdown job on Carlton captain Patrick Cripps as one of the greatest individual performances the Brisbane Lions coach has ever seen.

Dual Brownlow Medalist Lachie Neale said he had taken inspiration and guidance from his new teammate, declaring Dunkley the best two-way midfielder in the competition earlier this year.

Dunkley was influential in the Lions’ 16-point win over Carlton in last Saturday’s preliminary final at the Gabba, booking Brisbane a ticket to the AFL Grand Final for the first time since 2004.

The tenacious midfielder dampened the Blues skipper, with Cripps finishing with 13 disposals, four clearances and two goals, to Dunkley’s 23 disposals, five tackles and five clearances.

If there were any lingering doubts about Dunkley’s transfer from the Western Bulldogs to the Brisbane Lions, they now have surely been removed.

Will the Lions’ win over Carlton set up a repeat of the 2002 and 2003 Grand Finals, where Brisbane beat Collingwood on both occasions? Time will tell, but what an epic finish to the 2303 season it would be for Dunkley, if the Lions were to take out the flag.

It would cap off a stellar season and make Dunkley a two-time premiership player, something the 26-year-old says he’d do anything to be.

“I’d do anything, I’d do anything,” Dunkley said.

“2016 was my first year, and I thought, I didn’t think it was easy [to make a Grand Final and win a premiership], but you sort of think, “Oh, this will happen often if you are part of a premiership team”, but you learn how hard it is over your journey, through injuries and setback whether its scrutiny or form or whatever it is, you realise how hard premierships are to get.

“To get a premiership in my first year was incredible, but at the same time, I feel like I didn’t really appreciate it as much as I would now, so I am very grateful to be back in another Grand Final and as I said before I started rambling on was I would just love, I’d give anything to win another one, especially with the group that we’ve got.”

As the 2023 AFL decider fast approaches, the spotlight on Brisbane’s struggles at the MCG is hard to ignore, but Dunkley has no doubts about the Lions’ performance at the home of football.

“Playing on the MCG, I love it, I reckon it’s awesome,” Dunkley said.

“It’s the Colosseum of Australian sport; it’s incredible. It’s a great atmosphere, and this weekend there will be 100,000 [people] there, probably. It is just an awesome place to play at.

“I don’t see it as being any different in terms of the ground and us playing there.

“Having doubts about ourselves, I don’t see that.

“I feel like finals footy, too, is completely different. We ran out on Saturday at the Gabba, and half the crowd is Carlton, so you don’t even really feel like it’s your home ground; there’s this really different atmosphere.

“The ground feels a little bit smaller, like it just doesn’t feel like the Gabba. It feels like another ground, and I think the MCG on Grand Final Day will be exactly the same.

“My memories from Grand Final Day in 2016 are all about passages of play, not that we were playing at the MCG.

“[Tomorrow] is just a game of footy; let’s just go out there and play the way that we know we can, and hopefully, that holds us in good stead.”

As Brisbane prepares to meet Collingwood at the MCG to decide the 2023 AFL premier, Dunkley has found himself taking on a leadership role, being the only premiership player in the Lions squad unless Fagan recalls former Hawk Jack Gunston.

“Comparing this year to last year and moving clubs, I’ve definitely got a different role up here; there is a bit more responsibility,” Dunkley said.

“Having the experience in Grand Finals and finals itself is great, so the boys and the coaches lean into me a lot.

“We’ve got a lot of successful coaches that have played in premierships and finals footy too.

“We all help each other, but I feel like out on the ground, my role has definitely changed in that responsibility and leadership element, hugely compared to when I was at the Doggies.

“I am enjoying the role, it’s awesome. I love running out there each week and just trying to do my little bit for the team.”

Dunkley has come a long way since winning the 2012 Gippsland League senior premiership with Sale Football-Netball Club, a cherished memory of the Lions midfielder.

“I played juniors for Yarram, Allies (DWWWW) early on, then moved to Sale to play footy there, and I was lucky enough to play when I was 15 in the Sale premiership team in 2012,” Dunkley said.

“That is one of my best memories, that year when I was 15 years old, where I played on the wing, played under Matt Ferguson, who coached at the time. It was just an incredible journey and something I will never forget; the group that we had and the games we won, and obviously winning the premiership, was just insane.

“So yeah, that is probably my best memory from that time, but all junior stuff and the journey through my pathway was incredible down there.

“It was a great upbringing, and the sacrifices a lot of people made for me to get to where I am today were massive, so I am forever in debt to those people.”

A familiar surname is among the list of 2012 Sale premiership players, a surname which has been well circulated in the lead-up to tomorrow’s AFL decider is Pendlebury.

Dunkley played alongside Ryan Pendlebury, younger brother of Collingwood great Scott, when Sale took home the silverware after defeating Maffra in the 2012 Gippsland League senior Grand Final.

A budding star in the making, Dunkley idolised Scott Pendlebury, fondly remembering training sessions with the Collingwood dignitary.

“When he was first in the system, I’d train with him at Sale,” Dunkley said.

“I was this young kid who was looking up to him, idolising him, then all of a sudden you’re playing against him on an AFL field.

“Now we are playing against each other on Grand Final Day.

“It’s exciting, the element of idolising him as a kid, and still idolising him now, but playing against him in the Grand Final, where we’re both trying to win and run away with the silverware, is a great opportunity.

“He is a great player; he has been a great role model of mine for a long time, and it will be cool to run out there and play against him.”

As Sale’s Dunkley and Pendlbury search for their second premierships, only one will succeed.

Will Sale’s King of Football lead Collingwood to victory, or will Sale’s Prince of Football aid the Lions in overpowering the Pies?
Click to expand...
 
Lockdown Lion ready for role on hottest Pie

JOSH Dunkley is preparing to shut down either Jordan De Goey or Nick Daicos on Saturday, saying he's done homework on "four or five" Magpies.

Dunkley was a primary reason for Brisbane's preliminary final win over Carlton, keeping Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps to 13 disposals and two goals, while gathering 23 himself.

It continued a brilliant season for the 2016 premiership Bulldog, who has played 23 games and consistently quelled the influence of the opposition's most damaging midfielder.

Neither De Goey or Daicos played when the teams met in round 23 at Marvel Stadium, when the Lions won by 24 points.

But Dunkley says he's ready to run-with either during the Grand Final.

"I love playing on the best players in the comp," he said.

"Whether that's Jordy or Nick or whoever it might be, I look forward to that challenge."

Dunkley said he was doing homework on potential opponents on Friday morning before Brisbane's captain’s run at the MCG.

"Four or five amongst their team have either torn us up in previous games or we look at them and think they might be a chance to dominate us at any particular stage.

"You've got to use your strengths against theirs.

"For me, I'm more of a body type, so I like to be physical and that might help me or them, who knows, we'll wait and see tomorrow."
Click to expand...
 
www.lions.com.au

Trademark Player: Josh Dunkley

Josh Dunkley has been awarded the 2023 Trademark Player award after a brilliant first season with the Lions
www.lions.com.au www.lions.com.au
 
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