Emerging St Kilda midfielder Luke Dunstan says the Saints have focused on becoming a more consistent side by dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s ahead of Sunday’s encounter with league leaders North Melbourne.
Dunstan, 21, admits the Saints have learned from their preparation leading into the Round 5 game they lost against Greater Western Sydney, making better use of the additional time off between matches to ensure they are at the sharpest come game time.
“We’ve sort of put it down to what we’re doing during the week. We found in our last eight-day week going into the Giants, two days leading into the game was a little bit sloppy with blokes not doing as much touch and not doing the extras. So we’ve really got a strong focus on that,” Dunstan told saints.com.au on Thursday afternoon.
“Also in training, the contested ball and the real competing side of the game was strong, so that’s what we’re sort of basing it on and that seemed to work on the weekend.”
After working his way into the season, the South Australian’s last month has been impressive, with Dunstan averaging 21.7 possessions (11 contested), 5.3 tackles and 4.3 clearances, to recapture some of his best contested form around the ball.
“I’ve been reasonably happy with my last month. I’ve been working this year just on being tough and winning the contested footy and then the rest will take care of itself,” Dunstan said.
“It’s been good having ‘Sebby’ [Ross] and [Jack] ‘Newnesy’ and those sort of guys stepping up around me.”
North Melbourne’s even spread of midfield contribution has played a significant role in their unblemished start to 2016. With Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell, Nick Dal Santo, Ben Cunnington, Daniel Wells, Shaun Higgins and Brent Harvey, the Kangaroos midfield department bats deeper than most and presents a big test for the Saints.
“We had the meeting this morning and they’re the number one pressure team in the competition at the moment,” Dunstan said.
“They’ve obviously got a number of guys that are going through there at the moment and they’ve obviously added a couple as well. It will be a big challenge for us and something we’re looking forward to.”
Dunstan says the Saints’ improved depth has ensured competition for spots is as fierce as it has been in his time at the club, resulting in players like Blake Acres and Tim Membrey coming into the senior fold and making a significant impact upon return.
“I think until now, we haven’t had too much challenging for spots in the team. Now there’s a number of guys also playing really well in the VFL and whoever’s coming in to the side’s playing well, so it’s just really healthy for the club,” he said.
