Although St Kilda midfielder Luke Dunstan is currently displaying the form of his life, the 26-year-old is still yet to be offered a contract with the club for next season.
The South Australian played a staring role for the Saints in their 40-point win against Richmond last night, collecting 32 disposals, 11 clearances and a goal.
The Moorabbin man affectionately known as 'spook' by his teammates also shaded Dustin Martin in the time the pair spent on each other, and in doing so was good enough to claim the Ian Stewart medal as the best player afield in the Round 15 clash.
Simply sensational from our No. 7 💫
Luke Dunstan was unanimously awarded the Ian Stewart Medal for his best-on-ground performance last night. pic.twitter.com/5ZZCEQuArB
— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) June 26, 2021
However, 2021 has proved a mixed bag for Dunstan after he was dropped from Brett Ratten's senior side following the Saints' sinful loss to the Richmond earlier in the year.
Still, since making his return to AFL level in Round 11, the former second round draft pick has put his best foot forward by averaging 27 touches of the Sherrin.
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In spite of the fact that Dunstan has been afforded many chances to hit his straps with the Saints since joining their list in 2014, even his harshest critics couldn't have expected the hard nosed midfielder to spend any more time in the VFL following his routine ability to post breathtaking stat lines.
According to Fox Footy scribe Ben Waterworth, across his time with Sandringham this season, Dunstan slotted the big sticks on eight occasions and collected the ball a mean of 37 times per game.
Fellow Fox Footy employee and Dunstan's former teammate Leigh Montagna even went so far as to say that the former South Australian under-age skipper was starting to draw comparisons to Brisbane's Jarryd Lyons when he was routinely overlooked during his time as a Sun.
“There are always coaches and coaching panels, they get a bit of a ‘set’ on a player,” Montagna said after Friday night's game.
“They see what they can‘t do – can’t spread really well, doesn’t use the ball well. But there are players that you’ve got to look at what they can do – and Luke Dunstan has shown what he can do and he’s actually done it for a lot of his career.
“Yes we know he’s not an elite kick, yes he might not be the quickest player in the competition. But you know who else put a set on one of their players? The Gold Coast Suns put a set on Jarryd Lyons – and he’s now probably going to be an All-Australian this year.
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“Sometimes you‘ve got to actually look past the negatives and what a player can’t do and actually see what is possible.”
Fellow former Saints Nick Dal Santo echoed these sentiments and stated that if it weren't for a raft of injuries at the Saints, Dunstan would still likely be plying his trade in the reserves.
“To put it bluntly, they didn’t want him to play,” he said.
“He was clearly not anywhere near their best team at the start of the year or even a month or so into it.
“But one thing you know about all players is they all come to the table being drafted – he was a first-round draft pick – with something that‘s elite about them. It’s that ability to find what is good about that person and build around them.
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“The Lyons example is fantastic. There‘s enough players in the competition that are really good at a couple of things but are poor at others … Dunstan is exactly what they’ve needed in the last month: Unconditional effort, puts his nose over the football.
"Yes he butchers it every now and then, but they can work around him.”
Although Dunstan has made the most of his latest opportunity, he is still no closer to extending his time with St Kilda.
Should this remain unrectified, Dunstan will enter the off-season as a restricted free-agent after giving the Saints eight years of service.
If his current form is any indicator of future success, clubs will surely be lining up to secure the midfielder come trade time.
Montagna again weighed in by stating that Essendon is a club that should come knocking.
“It might not be at St Kilda because they maybe have players they thought were similar in style and the way they played that were ahead of him. But another club, I think of a club like Essendon,” he said.
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“They’ve got Jake Stringer that can pinch-hit in there, but when they‘ve got a player with the speed like (Andy) McGrath and (Zach) Merrett and (Darcy) Parish on the outside, someone like Luke Dunstan, who can just be underneath the ruckman’s nose like a ‘Libba’ (Tom Liberatore) does at the Western Bulldogs, I think there’s still a place for Luke Dunstan to play really strong footy.”
The red-hot Dunstan and his Saints will enjoy the remainder of their weekend after toppling the Tigers on Friday night before they face off against Collingwood at the MCG next Sunday afternoon.
