Luke Beveridge is known for liking flexibility among his chargers. 

In his four and a half seasons at VU Whitten Oval, there’s been a multitude of players who have been groomed into dual-role propositions, indeed, a list of one-position specialists would be significantly shorter.

But with young midfielders like Josh Dunkley and Bailey Williams, their recent assignments as run-with players has a dual function of a different kind; to track and learn from some of the League’s best players.

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Dunkley in particular has been played in a variety of positions this year, up forward, in the middle, even in the ruck at times, but in the past couple of weeks he’s shadowed Shaun Higgins, Joel Selwood, and we can safely assume he’ll spend some time on Hawthorn ball-magnet Tom Mitchell on Saturday night.

While the 21-year-old has shown himself to be a reliable, physical presence around the stoppages, his coach will be hoping he’ll also be watching and learning each time he lines up next to some of the game’s prime movers.

“Part of our approach in recent times is to make sure some of our younger midfielders like Dunks and Bailey Williams get some contact with some experienced midfielders and learn a little bit from what they're doing as well, Beveridge said on Friday.

“Josh will no doubt spend some time on Tom Mitchell and we'll try and get some benefits out of that.”

It does seem that some of it is rubbing off as Dunkley registered a career-high 27 disposals against Geelong last Friday night while keeping one eye on the Cats’ captain.

Dunkley has played 11 games this season for averages of 16 disposals, four marks and five tackles per game. He’s also kicked nine goals, placing him equal third on the Club’s goal kicking leaderboard.