Been there, Dunn that

By Paul Pickering
ONE play summed up Lynden Dunn’s remarkable eight-goal outing at Casey Fields on Saturday.
As the teeming rain turned monsoonal midway through the third term, Dunn led hard out of the goalsquare and elevated for a one-grab overhead mark metres inside the boundary line in the left forward pocket.
Taking just a couple of seconds to assess his options, the Casey and Melbourne forward then wheeled casually around onto his non-preferred left side and curled the ball through for his fourth goal.
The Scorpions forward, who seemed totally oblivious to the horrendous conditions, went on to kick eight straight and was the deciding factor in his side’s 14-point win over Box Hill.
Casey’s five game winning streak looked in jeopardy early, with the Hawks opening up a 13-point quarter-time break on the back of some shocking skill errors from the home side.
But when the heavy rain hit early in the second term, the Scorpions took their cue to knuckle down.
Some cleaner skills and two late goals to Dunn and Addam Maric brought the Scorpions within a goal at the half.
With Kyle Cheney and Tom McNamara mopping up brilliantly across half-back, Casey was able to lock the footy in its attacking half for much of the third term.
Scorpions ruckman Paul Johnson and strong-bodied midfielders Ben MacReadie, Joel MacDonald and Danny Nicholls relished the conditions, bullocking their way forward as the rain – and the surface – grew heavier.
A five-goal-to-nil third term, highlighted by Dunn’s heroics and a freakish soccer goal from Glenn Chivers, gave Casey a matchwinning lead of 25 points at the last change.
The Hawks rallied to within two goals midway through the final stanza, but never really looked like overrunning the determined Scorps.
Casey coach Brad Gotch said he enjoyed the rare display of old-fashioned wet weather footy. And so did his charges.
“We’re a very hard, bigger-bodied side, so when the rain came I reckon it suited us,” Gotch said.
“It allowed us to bottle the game up a bit and subdue some of the run they had earlier.”
The veteran coach praised his opposite number, Brendan Bolton, for creating some mismatches around the ground in the first half, but Gotch had the answers after the interval.
In Dunn, Gotch had a ready-made answer to just about anything the Hawks could muster.
“He’s a really smart player,” Gotch said of the out-of-favour Demon.
“Some guys are just built for those conditions and he probably had a day out because of it.”
Dunn was among a handful of Casey’s big men who relished the conditions. Johnson, McNamara, marking forward Danny Hughes and skipper James Wall were prominent on a day that should have suited the little fellas.
Matt Suckling provided a touch of class for the Hawks, while Jayden Hoegel, Ryan Schoenmakers and Ed Curnow were prominent early.
The Scorpions’ sixth win on the trot put them on top of the ladder on Saturday night, only for Williamstown to leapfrog them after its win over Frankston on Sunday.
The top two sides, who swapped coaches over the off-season, are separated by 14 percentage points. They’ll meet at Burbank Oval in round 10 in what shapes as a fascinating encounter.
In the meantime, the Scorps will face an out-of-sorts Sandringham at Casey Fields on Saturday, with the Zebras looking to snap a four-game losing streak.
Saturday will be the club’s Pink Ribbon match, with proceeds from a raffle, handball competition and other activities going towards breast cancer research.