Dunkley: Young Dog turning heads

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Emerging ruckman Tim English has been among the early pre-season standouts, according to star midfielder Josh Dunkley.

Dunkley, who enjoyed a breakout 2019 and has been elevated to the Western Bulldogs’ leadership group for 2020, said the 22-year-old big man had been tearing up the training track over the past month.

“I think Timmy English is one to look out for, he’s been training the house down,” Dunkley said.

“He’s always a good trainer in the pre-season and the way he’s moving at the moment, it’s going to be huge for us if we can get him as a ruckman performing for us.”

English, like Dunkley, also had a career-best season in 2019 as he played 20 AFL games and established himself as one of the competition’s most exciting young big men.

Dunkley, speaking at a joint training session alongside the AFLW team on Saturday, said he was looking forward to the year ahead and being part of the leadership group for the first time.

“It’s exciting. For me personally, I like to lead by actions – I’m not really a loud talker as many of the boys would know,” Dunkley said.

“I like to lead by what I do on the field.

“I’m not going to change too much the way I go about things, and hopefully I can lead by example.

“We haven’t really sat down and said where we want to go, it’s more about the now and trying to put your best foot forward in pre-season… really building that base and then we can attack the early part of next year.”

Set for a big 2020 Tim. I look forward to seeing more progression from him.

Great work by Dunks.

Midfielders always make fun of ruckman. Because they are tall, and, many would say a little bit 'less intelligent' than other players.

But Dunks? He understands that the ruckman is the guy who chooses who he hits the ball down too...so he pumps up Tim's tyres just a little bit...2-3 extra clearances for him each week, extra numbers on his contract come renewal time.

Smart.

Last week journos were tweeting that English is the standout of pre-season so far.

We played him 'raw' last year and he improved markedly as the season wore on so he should be primed for this year.

Inject this into my veins.

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Originally Posted by Mofra

Last week journos were tweeting that English is the standout of pre-season so far.

We played him 'raw' last year and he improved markedly as the season wore on so he should be primed for this year.

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Could be one of our biggest improvers next year.

Love reading this. The big chilli bush can be the driver of our improvement.

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Originally Posted by Eastdog

Could be one of our biggest improvers next year.

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If he isn't, his improvement may still have the biggest impact on team performance.

We were simply smashed in the ruck H1 last year, and I don't see that happening this year with English approaching maturity. He has all the tools to be one of the top rucks of the competition. If he simply becomes 'competent' (he's a baby in ruck terms) it will be a massive boost for us.

I wonder why so many great ruckmen come from WA?

Polly Farmer
NicNat
Aaron Sandilands
Dean Cox
Andrew Purser
Stephen Michael
Graham Moss
Ron Alexander
Mike Fitzpatrick
Tim English (give it a couple of years-no pressure son)


Feel free to add to the list.
Is it something in the water over there that makes kids grow really tall? Or do we all smoke too much in Victoria

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjp

Great work by Dunks.

Midfielders always make fun of ruckman. Because they are tall, and, many would say a little bit 'less intelligent' than other players.

But Dunks? He understands that the ruckman is the guy who chooses who he hits the ball down too...so he pumps up Tim's tyres just a little bit...2-3 extra clearances for him each week, extra numbers on his contract come renewal time.

Smart.

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Lol I'm sure that was his intention. There's always one player tearing up the preseason track fmd

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjp

Great work by Dunks.

Midfielders always make fun of ruckman. Because they are tall, and, many would say a little bit 'less intelligent' than other players.

But Dunks? He understands that the ruckman is the guy who chooses who he hits the ball down too...so he pumps up Tim's tyres just a little bit...2-3 extra clearances for him each week, extra numbers on his contract come renewal time.

Smart.

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When I played cricket I always made a point of learning what the umpires' names were. "Good decision George" "Yep that was going down leg for sure" "come over and have drinks with us George" "That must have been pretty close but I can see what you mean"


"That must be out George" and George would usually say "Yeah son, I think that you might be right"

Surely your joking George there's no way I hit that !!!!

Get the feeling we're gonna hear this about Tim every pre-season from now until he retires.

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Originally Posted by strebla

Surely your joking George there's no way I hit that !!!!

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That can wait until drinks after stumps. "did you really think that was LBW George? I totally thought that I hit it"

Because George will always be back to umpire another match and it usually only took a raised eyebrow for him to think "Nah, he's obviously not out, he would have said otherwise"

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Originally Posted by Happy Days

Get the feeling we're gonna hear this about Tim every pre-season from now until he retires.

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Eternal potential player, if he only keeps fit leading up to every preseason you're one hundred percent right. He'll retire and people will continue to point out how his improvement could shape our season.

The bouffant alone gets it done.