Master stopper Matt de Boer embraces challenge of playing on Dustin Martin in Grand Final
Matt de Boer restricted Dustin Martin to 15 disposals in Round 3, producing a hard tag which triggered a meltdown from the Tigers superstar. Can the Giants star replicate his efforts on the biggest stage?
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Matt de Boer is ready for the biggest task in football.
The GWS stopper kept Dustin Martin to just 15 disposals in Round 3 — the Tiger superstar’s second-lowest total for the season.
De Boer’s close checking tactics triggered a meltdown from Martin, who elbowed Giant Adam Kennedy off the ball — an incident that cost him a one-match suspension — and flipped the bird and made snorting gestures at Giants ruckman Shane Mumford. He was fined $7500 (with $5000 suspended) for those acts.
Frustrating one on the weekend !! I understand my reaction is not a good look for the game.. I apologise for my actions . Thanks 🤙ðŸ¼
— Dustin Martin (@DustinMartin4) April 10, 2019
And the pair could meet again on the MCG on football’s biggest day, with de Boer saying if he is given the job on the Brownlow medallist, he will give it his all.
“Yeah, I’ll chat to Leon (Cameron) and Lenny (Hayes) and see what they have in store,” the Giant said.
“He’s a super player. He obviously plays midfield and forward, so we’ll just see what the coaches have for me and whatever I do, I’ll do my best.”
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The Giants relish criticism, he said, which has come both on and off the field since the club’s inception a decade ago.
And they would continue to take on the haters with Richmond overwhelming favourites to take home a second premiership in three years in six days’ time, joking that star forward Toby Greene — suspended amid a lengthy appeal saga this week — had been “rested”.
“We don’t care. Let them criticise us,” he said.
“We’re going to continue to write our own story. The belief in the group is absolutely fantastic. We just gave Toby Greene a rest this week, so he’s fresh for next week.
“Our internal resolve is just solid. We believe we could come down here and get the job done, and we did. So the external noise actually doesn’t bother us in one way. We’re happy to use anything to our advantage, but we just keep coming back to the internal belief that we have.”
A “very proud” de Boer lauded the strength of the team to stave off the Magpies in the dying minutes, and said he “learned plenty” from his losing Grand Final experience with Fremantle in 2013.
Fresh from his job on Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury — which de Boer didn’t consider to be a mission accomplished — the 29-year-old said there was “serious belief” among the Grand Final underdogs.
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His own harshest critic, de Boer said he would have some homework to do this week.
“I could have been better,” he said.
“I tried to do my best, but I’m very fortunate that our midfield got to work. Onward and upward.
“There’s a few things that I like to review, and have back again. But I’ve got seven days to get recovered and go again, so I’m looking forward to it.
“We’ll go away, we’ll review our game first and will try and break Richmond down and put a strong plan in place to come back to Melbourne with serious belief.”
Originally published as Master stopper Matt de Boer embraces challenge of playing on Dustin Martin in Grand Final