Dunstan dropped

[Vortex]

I think it was reported in the media that Dunny was told in round 1 he wouldn't get a game for the remainder of the season. Then he gets a game for our first against the Tiges and he played possibly the worst game possible in a train wreck and then is given a game later in the season when the club was on its knees depth wise and comes in and plays about 3 to 4 good games and the media give him some exposure including a post game interview where he is asked what he attributes his form revival to, his answer was irate and contemptuous, but clearly a backhander to the people he didn't mention, which was nobody at the club but rather his Sandy coaches.

Clearly he was gone before round 1 and one has to assume his attitude and effort was at odds with Ratts and the club over the pre season to be given his marching orders in round 1.

Even when he played his 3 or 4 good games in the middle of the season I wasn't convinced, he was playing angry and with a chip on his shoulder and that type of motivation is never sustainable.

I think he will be one of those players that retires from the game with regret for not trying harder.

[bangaulegend]

Can't blame him for being angry if I was told I'm just here because I'm contracted but at years end we're moving you on I would be angry to . The best thing for Luke is he actually has given himself a big pay rise & there are a few clubs that will offer him a 2 or 3 year deal on the back of what he produced in the second half of the year. I wish him all the best

[The_Dud]

His form doesn’t warrant it, so must be he’s told them he’s leaving.

Can’t say I blame him.

[Toy Saint]

Dunstan has been treated poorly by St Kilda, as was Luke Ball.

Tough in & under but lacking pace to 'spread'. This type of player is highly valued by many clubs like Geelong with Joel Selwood, but not by St Kilda.

I kind of hope he gets to a decent club, wins a flag and gives St Kilda the middle finger.

[Ghost Like]

Dunstan has been treated poorly by St Kilda, as was Luke Ball.

Tough in & under but lacking pace to 'spread'. This type of player is highly valued by many clubs like Geelong with Joel Selwood, but not by St Kilda.

I kind of hope he gets to a decent club, wins a flag and gives St Kilda the middle finger.

Nothing like Luke Ball & certainly nothing like Selwood. If he was, he'd be playing Sunday and on a watertight contract for a few years.

[skeptic]

Dunstan has been treated poorly by St Kilda, as was Luke Ball.

Tough in & under but lacking pace to 'spread'. This type of player is highly valued by many clubs like Geelong with Joel Selwood, but not by St Kilda.

I kind of hope he gets to a decent club, wins a flag and gives St Kilda the middle finger.

See I don’t get these types of posts. How has he been treated poorly?

He’s been on the list since 2014 and has played 100 games and for the first time in 7 years he’s looked semi-decent and worthy of a sustained pushed.

He was shopped around last year and no one bit.

Dunstan hasn’t been treated poorly at all... what’s been poor was his fitness, form and development prior to 2 months ago.

The man who was given Nicky Winmar’s number is bloody lucky to even still be on an AFL list and for him to carry on the way he has, all pouty and taking indirect shots at the club that have paid him for a job he hasn’t done shows incredibly poor character

100% agree with Vortex, when he’s career is all done and dusted, you really have to wonder if he’ll be able to say he gave it his all because based on this year... given it’s the first of 7 where he’s been able to run games out properly, it’s a big fat no

[lewdogs]

Dunstan has been treated poorly by St Kilda, as was Luke Ball.

Tough in & under but lacking pace to 'spread'. This type of player is highly valued by many clubs like Geelong with Joel Selwood, but not by St Kilda.

I kind of hope he gets to a decent club, wins a flag and gives St Kilda the middle finger.

See I don’t get these types of posts. How has he been treated poorly?

He’s been on the list since 2014 and has played 100 games and for the first time in 7 years he’s looked semi-decent and worthy of a sustained pushed.

He was shopped around last year and no one bit.

Dunstan hasn’t been treated poorly at all... what’s been poor was his fitness, form and development prior to 2 months ago.

The man who was given Nicky Winmar’s number is bloody lucky to even still be on an AFL list and for him to carry on the way he has, all pouty and taking indirect shots at the club that have paid him for a job he hasn’t done shows incredibly poor character

100% agree with Vortex, when he’s career is all done and dusted, you really have to wonder if he’ll be able to say he gave it his all because based on this year... given it’s the first of 7 where he’s been able to run games out properly, it’s a big fat no

Not to mention he has earned a hefty amount of coin while he has been here. Was given a very generous long term deal by the Saints.

Has obviously found a similarly generous long term deal elsewhere, good on him but he should be thanking us not the other way round.

[st.byron]

Dunstan has been treated poorly by St Kilda, as was Luke Ball.

Tough in & under but lacking pace to 'spread'. This type of player is highly valued by many clubs like Geelong with Joel Selwood, but not by St Kilda.

I kind of hope he gets to a decent club, wins a flag and gives St Kilda the middle finger.

See I don’t get these types of posts. How has he been treated poorly?

He’s been on the list since 2014 and has played 100 games and for the first time in 7 years he’s looked semi-decent and worthy of a sustained pushed.

He was shopped around last year and no one bit.

Dunstan hasn’t been treated poorly at all... what’s been poor was his fitness, form and development prior to 2 months ago.

The man who was given Nicky Winmar’s number is bloody lucky to even still be on an AFL list and for him to carry on the way he has, all pouty and taking indirect shots at the club that have paid him for a job he hasn’t done shows incredibly poor character

100% agree with Vortex, when he’s career is all done and dusted, you really have to wonder if he’ll be able to say he gave it his all because based on this year... given it’s the first of 7 where he’s been able to run games out properly, it’s a big fat no

Yep agree. If he actually is shirty with the club, wtf?
Inconsistent and not living up to his promise for years with below average disposal, when he actually starts to come good, he pisses off. That’s another way of looking at it.

[Devilhead]

Solid mid but too many shortcomings - slow and average kick

Is not going to get any better and is not going to advance us to Premiership contender - Ross is in the same boat - so we need to move forward with some other youngsters who have more upside

For every very good game he played there were 2 average ones - good to see the club being a little ruthless

Thats said good luck to Luke and hope he finds another club willing to give him another chance at it

[Banger9798]

Few sour grapes there from Dunny I reckon

[skeptic]

Dunstan has been treated poorly by St Kilda, as was Luke Ball.

Tough in & under but lacking pace to 'spread'. This type of player is highly valued by many clubs like Geelong with Joel Selwood, but not by St Kilda.

I kind of hope he gets to a decent club, wins a flag and gives St Kilda the middle finger.

See I don’t get these types of posts. How has he been treated poorly?

He’s been on the list since 2014 and has played 100 games and for the first time in 7 years he’s looked semi-decent and worthy of a sustained pushed.

He was shopped around last year and no one bit.

Dunstan hasn’t been treated poorly at all... what’s been poor was his fitness, form and development prior to 2 months ago.

The man who was given Nicky Winmar’s number is bloody lucky to even still be on an AFL list and for him to carry on the way he has, all pouty and taking indirect shots at the club that have paid him for a job he hasn’t done shows incredibly poor character

100% agree with Vortex, when he’s career is all done and dusted, you really have to wonder if he’ll be able to say he gave it his all because based on this year... given it’s the first of 7 where he’s been able to run games out properly, it’s a big fat no

Not to mention he has earned a hefty amount of coin while he has been here. Was given a very generous long term deal by the Saints.

Has obviously found a similarly generous long term deal elsewhere, good on him but he should be thanking us not the other way round.

The other thing I’d add is that if anything, he’s damn lucky that Ratten lit a fire under him or he’d have never pulled his finger out. Should be thanking the man for saving his career

[Teflon]

Gold Coast is the rumour
Goodbye Luke not the future
Hope he gets paid in their top 50% to land us band 3 compo late 20’s pick be lovely
Good inside mid ....when it gets near outside he’s a liability and can’t kick
Not the future move on
Anyone else??

[mad saint guy]

Dunstan has been treated poorly by St Kilda, as was Luke Ball.

Tough in & under but lacking pace to 'spread'. This type of player is highly valued by many clubs like Geelong with Joel Selwood, but not by St Kilda.

I kind of hope he gets to a decent club, wins a flag and gives St Kilda the middle finger.

Dunstan has been given an absolutely blessed run by St Kilda. He had a promising first year and has been poor ever since then, outside of two career-saving six week patches of form. We kept him for far, far too long.

[The OtherThommo]

If we want him we would offer him a contract attractive enough to stay. We don’t want to as we don’t need him. It’s a meh from me

I would much rather we developed Bytel.

Seems the Saints think along the same lines.

I would hope so. Dunstan's limitations are glaring. A combo of being unable to hurt the other side by foot, with always wanting to kick, rather than dish off to blokes in better spots, really damages your 'brand'.

Maybe if he'd tried a Ben Cunnington m.o.

Young blokes like Bytel have to be given a chance.

[saintsRrising]

Disappointed with how this has all appeared to play out

We’ve stuck with him through thick and thin, given him multiple opportunities even though it took like 7 years for him to get his fitness up to scratch…

Then he finally gets to the level necessary, starts playing decent football and walks out
Will be glad to be done with this sorry saga

To be fair to Dunstan I think he knows the pecking order will not have him in the best 22 if everyone is fit in 2022.

Dunstan's key problem is Crouch who is similar but better and there is not really room for two of them in the team week in week out.

[minneapolis]

Dunny has had 7 years of development and still kicks it out on the full or directly to an opponent.

Connolly first game threads the needle in the corridor.

Who would you pick?

Personally good luck to him if he gets another gig. I can't see why though.

[cwrcyn]

He's good at the clearances, but here's a guy who averages 5.6 turnovers per game (stats from Footywire.com), the highest in the team and one of the highest in the league. That's why he wasn't getting a game until injuries forced Ratten's hand. He's been averaging around 26 possessions a game, and he hands it directly back to the opposition 20% of the time. Most of those turnovers are from forward 50 entries, robbing us of scoring opportunities. Those turnovers cost goals, cost team morale, and sometimes cost games.

[WellardSaint]

Dunny has had 7 years of development and still kicks it out on the full or directly to an opponent.

Connolly first game threads the needle in the corridor.

Who would you pick?

Personally good luck to him if he gets another gig. I can't see why though.

Club just signed Leo for 2 years.
And Dunstan will be looking for new digs.
Onwards and upwards.
List management making the right calls

[Zed]

I can only assume he was told at the start of the year he wouldn’t be playing again due to his poor disposal efficiency. You can’t fault his in close work which is good - and as a tagger did some great shut down jobs this year.
Ratten looking to build a team that uses the ball a lot better by foot and with the season over , Luke naturally finds himself on the outer not being part of next years plans.

Thanks for the service Luke. All the best at your next club.

[The_Dud]

Has had a much better year only playing half the games than a lot of higher paid players who appear untouchable.

I would suggest this has a lot to do with his decision, selection integrity doesn’t exist.

[cwrcyn]

Wherever he goes, I hope he does well.

[Vortex]

Wherever he goes, I hope he does well.

I'm guessing he will go to the Crows, if he can consistently produce the form he did for those 3 or 4 good games he played this season then he could be helpful to the development of the young Crows players and be part of providing a mature body chop out for the back end of his career.

I'll be incredibly surprised if a top 4 side or a potential top 4 side picks him up as he'd be too much of a risk on a list in the premiership hunt. He's much more suited to a club in the early stages of a rebuild.

[spert]

Our midfield got well-beaten against Geelong in the end, so someone had to go. Dunstan made a few bad decisions in that game which didn't help us, and Byrnes is a young gun still learning and will be better next season.

[takeaway]

He's good at the clearances, but here's a guy who averages 5.6 turnovers per game (stats from Footywire.com), the highest in the team and one of the highest in the league. That's why he wasn't getting a game until injuries forced Ratten's hand. He's been averaging around 26 possessions a game, and he hands it directly back to the opposition 20% of the time. Most of those turnovers are from forward 50 entries, robbing us of scoring opportunities. Those turnovers cost goals, cost team morale, and sometimes cost games.

That's where stats are misleading. When Dunstan "wasn't getting a game" his turnover rate was 2.7, so hardly a reason for non selection. It is true his disposal by foot is iffy, and that is his main issue. However, the fact that his turnover rate this season is 5.4 I think is a side effect of his impressive run of games. High turnover rates are the norm for mids in the heat of contested ball, for example this year the best inside mids turnovers - Petracca 6.6, Oliver 5.4, Wines 6.0.

I agree with some posters that Dunstan has been treated harshly by the Saints selection wise. He has played plenty of good games for the Saints in addition to this year, especially early in his career when he had to shoulder a big burden in the midfield. Had some injuries, and some poor games, but I recall being surprised at times when he was dropped, when there were certainly far worse performers in the side. I don't blame him if he is disgruntled, and wish him well if he is indeed gone.

Too late now but based on what I have seen to date, and Dunstan being only 26, I know who I would prefer between Dunstan & Bytel in the near future - Dunstan. Bytel has not shown much to me, I hope he improves. It looks like Dunstan is gone, but I would have preferred Ross to go rather than Dunstan.

[saynta]

He's good at the clearances, but here's a guy who averages 5.6 turnovers per game (stats from Footywire.com), the highest in the team and one of the highest in the league. That's why he wasn't getting a game until injuries forced Ratten's hand. He's been averaging around 26 possessions a game, and he hands it directly back to the opposition 20% of the time. Most of those turnovers are from forward 50 entries, robbing us of scoring opportunities. Those turnovers cost goals, cost team morale, and sometimes cost games.

That's where stats are misleading. When Dunstan "wasn't getting a game" his turnover rate was 2.7, so hardly a reason for non selection. It is true his disposal by foot is iffy, and that is his main issue. However, the fact that his turnover rate this season is 5.4 I think is a side effect of his impressive run of games. High turnover rates are the norm for mids in the heat of contested ball, for example this year the best inside mids turnovers - Petracca 6.6, Oliver 5.4, Wines 6.0.

I agree with some posters that Dunstan has been treated harshly by the Saints selection wise. He has played plenty of good games for the Saints in addition to this year, especially early in his career when he had to shoulder a big burden in the midfield. Had some injuries, and some poor games, but I recall being surprised at times when he was dropped, when there were certainly far worse performers in the side. I don't blame him if he is disgruntled, and wish him well if he is indeed gone.

Too late now but based on what I have seen to date, and Dunstan being only 26, I know who I would prefer between Dunstan & Bytel in the near future - Dunstan. Bytel has not shown much to me, I hope he improves. It looks like Dunstan is gone, but I would have preferred Ross to go rather than Dunstan.

How many Trevor Barker awards has Dunny won?