Lynden Dunn opens up on his exit from Melbourne, why he loves the Pies and his leadership style
HE’S not ashamed to admit it. The thought of Collingwood used to make Lynden Dunn’s blood boil. But if he had his career over again, he would have joined the black and white army 10 years ago.
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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.”
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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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
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.
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.
“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.”
Originally published as Lynden Dunn opens up on his exit from Melbourne, why he loves the Pies and his leadership style