BACKLINE coach Jade Rawlings says the work that Lynden Dunn has done in the past two seasons has got him to the point where he is now being viewed as a potential All-Australian by many in the football community.

Rawlings indicated Dunn finally deserved the plaudits for his outstanding form down back, as he had become an integral player for the Demons.

“I’m getting a bit sick of him actually. I was trying to eat my corn flakes [at breakfast] and there was an article on him in the paper,” he told Dee TV with a smile. 

“He’s improved out of sight. What people fail to see is that this has been a work in progress since round 13, 2012, when he came to the backline against the Giants.

“People still see him as a journeyman and he’s just starting to come good now, but because of our lack of success as a team, people haven’t noticed what he’s capable of doing.

“The work that he’s put into his own game for two years now and probably into his third season has been outstanding. He knows his game really well and he plays to his strength and he’s started to eliminate a few of those brain fades and errors.

“He’s still capable of the odd error, but he’s got enough of the footy at the moment that he’s probably going to have an error every now and then.

“I’m really pleased with his approach to his footy – his task orientation, you give him a big job and he gets it done. The way he plays for his teammates – I really enjoy it.”

Rawlings said his backline group, like the rest of the team, had progressed significantly this year. But he said there was still plenty of work to get to the next level.

“The whole team’s systems have improved out of sight, so the guys haven’t been under as much pressure as they have previously. But the first half, they had to strap themselves in – [Essendon] had 38 [inside 50] entries to half-time,” he said.

“Primarily the guys were pretty good, but I thought there were parts of our game, which weren’t as good as they’ve been. There were a lot of parts I was very happy with, but some that weren’t as good, so that’s been addressed.

“The group does stand up under pressure and they do know what’s required, when there is a lot of ball coming down and they have been well trained in that area in the last couple of years.

“To keep Essendon to under 12 goals, [albeit] with a little bit of inaccurate goalkicking, we were really pleased.”

Reflecting on Melbourne’s epic one-point win over Essendon at the MCG last Sunday, Rawlings said the players and coaches relished the comeback victory, but moved on pretty quickly. 

“It was a great feeling in the rooms after the game. The players really enjoyed themselves and the supporters – just how excited they were with the ability to come from behind and get the victory in the end,” he said.

“We do come back [to earth] pretty quickly and we enjoy the win for a small period of time and then we’re back into reviewing what worked and what didn’t and what’s going to make a difference in how we’re going to perform this week.

“The players have taken a lot of ownership over saying ‘yep, let’s enjoy that win, but we haven’t had a great record of being able to back that up’, so that’s been a major focus of the last couple of days.”

As for this Sunday’s clash against North Melbourne at the MCG, Rawlings said it was another genuine challenge for the Demons.

“We’ve planned for their (North Melbourne) best. When I watch North at their best – they’re right up there with the best teams in the competition. Their second half against Richmond showed what they’re capable of doing in small bursts,” he said.

“Their form interstate this year has been outstanding and then they’ve had a bit of a down game against Adelaide on the weekend and it’s a bit hard to know what their form line is.

“I’ve got a really healthy respect for what they’ve done at the footy club in the last five years and their form against us historically has been very good. So certainly from my end of the ground, with the backs, we’re going to have our hands full.

“There is a lot of talent up there with [Drew] Petrie, Aaron Black, Robin Nahas is in good form and Lindsay Thomas. And then it depends if they go with [Robbie] Tarrant or Majak Daw, so there is a fair bit they ask of you in that part of the ground. We’ll be planning for their best – that’s for sure.”