Player Watch Lynden Dunn (Retired 2020)

Remove this Banner Ad

Unknown Identity said:
Our bits and pieces defence of Dunn and Goldsack is proving effective.

No Frills, just get the job Dunn.. ;)

Big fan of his work so far, been a great pick up.
Click to expand...

I think we're seeing better whole team defence which takes the pressure of the 6-7 blokes actually playing in defence.
 
Can't help but feel Dunn deserves some recognition for his courage in going back hard with the flight of the ball against the Demons in the last quarter, getting up to walk it off and returning to the field later. Well done to him and love having him at our club!
 
Has been super, he's one of the best in the competition for total metres gained and gave the rest of the comp a month or so headstart. Was looking at Nathan Brown for the Aints over the weekend and he's a great shut down player on the goal square gorilla but in the modern game if you don't have the attacking side to go with it the entire game plan is compromised. Ripper pick up!
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Dunny is awesome. I'm a devotee in the cult of the big Dunny.
Dunny and Howe.. much man love. Clearly we need to poach more Melbourne players.
 
BIGNEDKELLY said:
Can't help but feel Dunn deserves some recognition for his courage in going back hard with the flight of the ball against the Demons in the last quarter, getting up to walk it off and returning to the field later. Well done to him and love having him at our club!
Click to expand...

And that was after copping one in the first quarter and going off under the blood rule.
 
doodles98 said:
Dunny is awesome. I'm a devotee in the cult of the big Dunny.
Dunny and Howe.. much man love. Clearly we need to poach more Melbourne players.
Click to expand...
Petracca would be nice
 
With nothing else to talk about this off-season I'd like to talk about how much I love Lynden Dunn.

He's become one of my favourite blokes at the club.

Given Henry Schade has just been delisted it irks me more than I know it should that Dunn was overlooked for the first quarter of the season... :(

Looking forward to a good 2018 and beyond from Lynden!
 
What a legend!

Lynden Dunn opens up on his exit from Melbourne, why he loves the Pies and his leadership style
Scott Gullan, Herald Sun
February 10, 2018 7:00pm
Subscriber only
THE question started about how he became a defender but then quickly morphed into something a lot bigger.

There are clearly so many layers to the Lynden Dunn story that a time-out is required.

“Hang on, so how many remodels of Lynden Dunn has there been?”

The newly appointed member of the Collingwood leadership group looks up from the salad he’s wrestling with at a cafe in Glen Waverley — (he lives in Richmond but is doing a school visit around the corner) — and smiles: “Too many.”

INJURY NEWS: CALF SCARE WON’T KEEP HOWE OUT

OLD PIE: CLOKE PUTS PEN TO PAPER ON NEW DEAL

SUPERCOACH: WHICH PIES SHOULD YOU PICK THIS YEAR?

His story is one that every draftee should read and take a leaf out of.

The moral of it is never give up no matter how bad it gets — don’t worry Dunn has been at the bottom of the barrel a few times — keep smiling, keep a positive attitude and play for your teammates.

For example, Dunn was vice-captain of Melbourne in 2015 and played every game. The following season he was dumped from the leadership group, played four games to Round 6 and then never played in the senior side again.

“It was hard but I have played enough footy that when you turn it up and crack the sh*ts, it doesn’t work,” he explains.

45d35a271ac9d5341a1123ffa9592a3e

Lynden Dunn in action against his old side Melbourne last year. Picture: Getty Images
“I have seen it done both ways and that’s not who I am. I love my teammates, I loved the Melbourne Football Club when I was there and I still love the place.

“It was hard but I understood. I saw other players go through it like Adem Yze, James McDonald, all in different circumstances, I saw Russell Robertson go through it to an extent.

“I’m not the first player it has happened to and I won’t be the last but it’s not easy when it’s you.”

Dunn wasn’t the only one not a part of coach Paul Roos’ vision for the Demons, he had a few mates alongside him in the VFL which was his saving grace.

“The thing that really helped me get through that tough time was the fact we were really playing some great footy at Casey,” he says.

“I was playing footy with Jack Grimes, Colin Garland, Jack Trengove, Jake Spencer, all really close mates of mine and we were all in a similar position.


2395dd15647c6bafab01d6c42c8ceabe

“We had a really good team and one of my great regrets of my AFL career is not winning the 2016 VFL Grand Final just because of the mates we were playing with.

“That still hurts that game and that was the last game I ever played associated with the Dees so that was pretty hard to swallow but then when my chance came at Collingwood, I was obviously pretty excited.”

When he sat down with Magpies assistant coach Robert Harvey and list manager Derek Hine for an interview, Dunn was typically blunt and upfront.

“When I left Melbourne there was a lot of outside noise in the media, everyone thought I was done but I never viewed it that way,” he says.

“I understood where I was in my career and the reason I did move was because I felt I had more to give at AFL level.

“I said this to Robert Harvey and Derek Hine when I met with them, I know you have seen what I can do football wise but I bring more to the football club than just playing.

“I will always back myself in, I believe I am a good person, I have good values and I work hard.

2dcf738e51c1b31755b48ae433899a5f

Paul Roos talks with Lynden Dunn. Picture: George Salpigtidis
“And now here we are a bit over 12 months later, to be in the leadership group and the boys to recognise me and look up to me.

“That is something I don’t think anyone would have really expected or something even I really thought about.”

Apologies, we’ve digressed. Rewind back to the start of the remodelling.

Dunn was a first-round pick (No. 15) by the Demons in the 2004 draft. He was recruited as a forward and was told to follow Brad Miller around at training and learn the ropes.

“I was a footy nut as a kid and then when I got to Melbourne I was like a sponge and I just followed Millsy around,” he says.

He kicked two goals on debut in Round 6, 2006, against Geelong and went on to play 11 games in his first season.

The first reboot came midway through his second season against Port Adelaide at the MCG.

“Neale Daniher was the coach and I was having an absolute stinker, I reckon I might have touched the aggot twice in the first half and he said to me, ‘I want you to go to Chad Cornes in the second half and wherever he goes, just follow him’.

“I did an OK job and it just grew from there. I played on Adam Goodes, Chris Judd, Simon Black, Dane Swan, Gary Ablett, Paul Hasleby, some serious players. I played in the middle for about two-and-a-half years which is hard to believe now but I was a little bit lighter then.”

He then resumed operating as a floating forward but midway through 2012 he was called in by then coach Mark Neeld who had Jade Rawlings, the backline coach, in the office with him.

“I had already worn the green vest (for substitutes) four times in the first half of the season,” Dunn explains.

“They basically said to me that if you don’t start owning a position on the ground then you won’t be here next year.

“It was a really open and honest conversation, that is how I like to be coached, I like honesty. I live in the real world and they said if you don’t go down back and start playing good footy it’s going to be hard to find a spot for you next year.

“At this stage I was going through a relationship breakup, it was all happening in 2012.

“The best thing was I went back and started playing some good footy and going to the footy was actually my outlet at the time.

8b614116ae9d402b316167256b10498a

Lynden Dunn and Daniel Wells sing the song after playing in their first win for Collingwood. Picture: Getty Images
“I could just forget about everything. I played good footy and then ended up signing another two-year deal as a defender.

“And now I honestly wish I had of played defence from the first day I got drafted.”

He fell in love with Collingwood from the moment he set foot in the Holden Centre and the transition was made easier by the attitude of his son, Emmett.

“He is seven going on 23 now,” Dunn says. “The hardest thing I thought when I left Melbourne was telling him that we were going to have to change football teams but he was bloody rapt.

“He got a new footy jumper, changed his colours from red and blue to black and white, so he was really good.

“For a long time I did hate Collingwood with a passion and I’m not ashamed to say that, if it wasn’t that way I probably wouldn’t be human.

“I love the Melbourne Football Club with all my heart, I’m a life member but you know what I kind of wish I went to Collingwood 10 years ago.

“I know it kind of doesn’t make sense but that is how much I love the place.”

After his first game for the Pies in Round 6 last year — ironically again against Geelong — his father, Chris, was taking Emmett down to the players’ race when president Eddie McGuire spotted them.

“Eddie saw him and sent Emmett out onto the ground so Emmett came running out onto the MCG, he came up to me and gave me a big hug.

“I put him on my shoulders and I’ve got the photos at home, that was a really special moment for me.”

3739515c6e5b917da52f77ff01a870f8

Lynden Dunn and his son Emmett after his first win as a Magpie. Picture: Michael Klein
65b72cd66247c9acd8814058d504da5c

Lynden Dunn in action for the Pies. Picture: Michael Klein
Dunn’s leadership style is action-based on the field and building relationships off it.

“The biggest thing for me is game day, playing your role and leading by example on game day,” he explains.

“I know it’s only two hours a week you spend on the field but that is what everyone sees and where results are happening.

“I just try to build relationships with my teammates whether they have been at the club for two months or 12 years.

“I have really good people skills. I understand people, kind of intuition which I am big on and feel, that sort of thing.

“The reason I play footy and the biggest thing I have got out of my AFL career is I just love my teammates.

“I just want to play well for my teammates and that probably drives me the most.”

Life after footy isn’t set in stone yet — he’s confident the 2018 model of Lynden Dunn has two or three years left — and he’ll complete his Level 3 coaching course this year which compliments his work with Collingwood’s AFLW team.

He has a mate at Strathmore who he’s promised he’ll have a kick with when he hangs up his AFL boots but there is also an itch to try another sport.

afa387aace983c8ff956bf55fedd88ad

Lynden Dunn takes a training session at Glen Waverley Secondary College. Picture: Alex Coppel
Given his thumping right leg, going over to the US to try his hand at NFL punting is an idea which has been floated.

“I don’t think I would ever cut my AFL career short to do it,” he says. “I think you obviously need to be good at kicking the footy but I bring more than just kicking the footy, I’ve been around elite sport for a long time.

“I have got a gridiron ball at home which I’ve had a few kicks with so that might be an option.”

Before all that he has one box he’d like to tick off.

Dunn has played 182 games which puts him at the top of the list for current players with the most games without playing a final.

“It’s been a different journey,” he says. “ I wouldn’t change it for the world but I would like to play finals eventually.”

FOOTY RUNS IN THE DUNN FAMILY

LYNDEN Dunn’s sister is exactly like he was when he was younger, a footy nut.

At last year’s Copeland Trophy Jorga, 14, was interviewed and asked who her favourite Collingwood players were.

“Everyone thought she’d start reeling off the blokes but she said: ‘Meg Hutchins and Emma King’,” Lynden explains.

“She loves everything about AFLW, she just wants to play footy and it’s great.

“I knew how I was when I was a kid, all I wanted to do was play footy and she is exactly the same and now she gets the chance to do that if she wants to.”

Last year Jorga played for Ballarat Grammar in the Herald Sun Shield final which was a curtain-raiser before the Round 22 Collingwood-Geelong game at the MCG.

She isn’t a fullback like her brother, more forward pocket goalsneak.

f7529b5c5f300869350d5dd86ba0fc0b

Lynden Dunn in action at Collingwood training. Picture: Getty Images
“They won that game and she kicked a goal. She’s short but pretty powerful and can play at both ends,” he says.

His father, Chris, also coached women’s football in Ballarat so it was no surprise that Lynden has gravitated towards the AFLW.

After helping out unofficially last year, he’s now part of Collingwood’s coaching panel this season, in charge of defence.

“Because of Jorga’s interest and Dad has coached women’s footy, it’s part of the reason why I am so interested as well,” he says.

“I have lived it, I have seen it and it’s great to be a part of it now.”
Click to expand...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...e/news-story/d3b2fc0cd49be137c1ea59cf6cdc7756
 
Nice article, cheers for posting that

Sounds like a good man
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Great article.
He’s a beauty.

We’ve won the demons pool with Dunny and Howe.


(But we have also given them Ben Kennedy, Chris Dawes, Herieter Lamumba so no doubt that’s working for them too. Oh we gave them Mark Neeld too.)
 
It's OK to have hated us Dunny, coz I know I farking hated you as well. Luckily things change
 
His “hate” was disguising his one true love, Collingwood:)
 
See post number 436.

It’s just above and you will likely like the article.

The big Dunny he’s a beauty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Rumour AFL player to retire (confirmed: Angus Brayshaw)
2 3
Replies
72
Views
3K
domus
domus
Maggie5
List Mgmt. Teams Delistings and Retirements
2
Replies
45
Views
3K
pablo disco bar
pablo disco bar

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top