LYNDEN Dunn has praised the way Jack Grimes recently stepped down as co-captain.

Grimes, who had been a co-captain for the past three seasons, decided to relinquish the position he held with Jack Trengove in 2012-13 and then with Nathan Jones in 2014.

Dunn said the way Grimes spoke about his decision was full of class.

“Jack spoke really well when he addressed the group. He handled the situation like a real man and his leadership has gone to a new level this pre-season,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“He’ll still be in the leadership group, providing the boys pick him when they go through the process, which I don’t think will be an issue.

“He’s in great nick and it’ll be good now that he’s let that go (the co-captaincy), because people forget the player that he is. They’ve always talked about him having the captaincy so young and these other factors.

“We just want Grimesy looking after himself and playing good footy for the team. If he’s playing good footy, it’s going to help everyone, so we’re really excited for what he’s going to bring next year.”  

Dunn said Grimes, along with the rest of the Melbourne defence, was building strongly for the 2015 season. 

“The strength of our backline is that we’re really versatile. Blokes can play tall or small and cover for each other, which is important in today’s AFL game,” he said.

“From week to week we’ll look at the match-ups, but Frosty has fitted in really well. He’s really competitive and really hungry and he’s really bought into the group well.

“It’ll hold him in good stead for when he comes up against the bigger boys in the opposition forward line next year.”

Dunn said recruits 2010 Collingwood premiership player Heritier Lumumba, former Giant Sam Frost and young draftee Oscar McDonald had all slotted in nicely into the backline group – although the trio are at different stages of their career.

“H (Lumumba) has been switching between the midfield and backline group and big Frosty is going to be really good for us,” he said.

“He’s still young and got a big frame. He’s experienced at AFL level and Oscar is really raw, but has the same mindset as Tom. He’s really hungry for the contest and eager to learn.

“We’ve got a pretty settled backline group, which is good. It really gives us a chance to hone in on some specific skills and really hold up the fort down back.”