The 22-year-old Rookie matured late into professional football, but in just one year Sam Dunell has gone from playing in the A-grade amateurs to being drafted to an elite AFL Club.
And he says his rise to the top came down to persistence and a bit of good fortune.
“Over the last 12 months it really came through. I set a few goals for myself to make the representative sides within the Old Melbournians because they have quite a good reputation with pushing through some of the young guys and giving them an opportunity,” recounted Sam.
“Luckily enough I made the Under-23 VAFA side, and then got to play in the Senior VAFA rep side as well. And at the end of the year I played the last 7 games for the Bendigo Bombers, so it happened really quickly and it was awesome.”
And Dunell isn’t discounting his AFL bloodlines for their contribution either.
“My dad played for Essendon in the eighties, so I’ve always played football and been into sport.”
“I wanted to dominate at the amateur level to get some exposure and that gave me a chance to get on a VFL List.”
Chances aside, Sam reluctantly faced the prospect of giving up on his dream of playing professional football altogether when he turned 20, going on to study commerce at university.
“There’s a good motto that’s always floating around my house because my mum loves to encourage my brothers and I; even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over by just sitting there.”
“It just means that there’s always ways you can better yourself. You know, even if you’re playing good footy at the highest level, there are always guys that go that extra mile.”
So Sam put his head down and decided that making his own luck would give him the best odds to get where he needed to go.
Motivation played a key part in driving the midfielder to play his cards right; ensuring he was the first to arrive and last to leave at training and playing each game of football as if it was his last.
“I got lucky, being 21 when I got drafted, but that seems to be my life story,” he said.
“I got signed the day before they stopped signing people in the VFL on June 30. I signed with Bendigo after someone had left and it just fell my way. I was only expecting a couple of games and I ended up playing most of what was left of the season and a final.”
While hard work and determination are beckoning St Kilda’s first pick in the 2011 Rookie Draft this season as he plays for the Saints’ affiliate VFL side, the Sandringham Zebras, Sam is also relying on his lucky charm to do what it does best.
“As a Rookie obviously luck has to go my way to get an opportunity (to play a game) but I’m just trying to control the things I can control and play consistent football for Sandringham - not just play one good game every couple of weeks,” he concluded.
