After 800 career goals, it’s fair to say Matthew Richardson knows a thing or two about forward craft.

So it was notable that Richardson dubbed Lachie Hunter the Bulldogs' most dangerous forward during Saturday night’s broadcast of the Club’s 16-point loss to the Dockers in Perth.

It came after Hunter, seemingly out of the contest, jumped in front of veteran Docker Michael Johnson to take a momentum swinging mark directly in front of goal.  It was a beauty, and even the Fremantle fans seemed impressed.

The 22-year-old then went back and slotted the second of his three first half goals, almost single-handedly keeping his side in the game.

Hunter’s gut-running means he’s always a dangerous proposition for opposition sides working off of a wing or half-back; he just goes and goes and goes.

And we know that finding the football has never been a problem, he was sixth in the competition for total disposals in 2016, except this season he is finding it front of goal and has been translating those possessions into scores. 

23.6% of Hunter’s disposals have come inside the 50m arc this season, up from just 11.1% last season and he’s leading the Club with 7.2 goals, three behind last season’s tally of ten.

He’s also the Club’s number one target in front of goal, alongside Jake Stringer.  In a forward line that has included Stringer, Tom Boyd, Stewart Crameri and Travis Cloke at different stages, that’s tough to ignore.   

He’s got a decent bag of tricks, Hunter, and if goal-kicking becomes another one, he’ll add another dangerous weapon to Luke Beveridge’s armoury.