VICE-captain Lynden Dunn says Melbourne’s backline is building greater flexibility as it prepares for the 2015 home and away season.
Dunn said the likes of Col Garland, Tom McDonald and Jack Grimes stood up in the defence against the Dogs. And he added that the recruitment of Heritier Lumumba, plus the introduction of Christian Salem, Jimmy Toumpas and Jordie McKenzie to the backline had added versatility to the area.
“We’ve got a really flexible backline – blokes who can play tall or small, so that’s a real strength of ours – not just defence, but the team,” he told Dee TV.
“We love the personnel we’ve got down there at the moment.”
Looking back on its second NAB Challenge encounter, Dunn said Melbourne was fortunate to come away with a seven-point win over the Western Bulldogs at Eureka Stadium on Saturday.
“We started really well and we played some pretty good footy in the first half and I think the scoreboard reflected that,” he said.
“After half-time, for whatever reason, we went away from the way we were playing in the first half.
“It was a tale of two halves and we were lucky to come away with the win in the end. We’ve got some things to work on and we did some things well in the first half and we’ll look to take them in against the Bombers on Friday.”
Dunn said the first half was a positive, but the second half would be reviewed closely.
“We’ll review the second half and [look at] what went wrong,” he said.
“We’re not concerned, but there are things to work on and some tightening of the screws before round one against the Gold Coast.
“We’ve just got to play our footy and Roosy has been really big on us focusing on the way we play our footy. No matter who we play next week, or whether it’s round one or Essendon, who we have got [on Friday night], we just need to play our footy for four quarters.”
The newly appointed vice-captain said he was enjoying his role, but he added that he didn’t alter the way he approached the game.
“Nothing really changes, but I just try and drive Jonesy’s (Nathan Jones) message and get around the boys during the week and really continue to improve my leadership skills,” he said.
