Dustin Martin has achieved records no one in the history of the AFL has ever matched

As Richmond and the AFL prepare to celebrate Dustin Martin’s 300th game, the list of his achievements makes for stunning reading.

Dustin Martin, take a bow. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

He was hailed by one rival coach as the “greatest grand final player of the modern era” and on the eve of his 300th game a list of the staggering achievements of Richmond superstar Dustin Martin paint the picture of a player set apart from his peers.

Martin, 32, has won nearly every individual award available, with the exception of the Coleman Medal and Rising Star award, and when it comes to goalkicking, his 32 in the 2017 season remains the most by a Brownlow Medal winner since Tony Lockett kicked 117 in 1987.

Martin’s prowess in the big games has been matched by unrivalled consistency.

He managed to get at least 10 disposals in each of his first 249 career games, the longest streak from debut by any player. No other player has made it to more than 189 games without having a game with under 10 disposals.

Martin is also the only player to poll a perfect 10 AFL Coaches Association votes eight times in a single season. One of those was in 2017 en route to winning both the Brownlow and the first of his three Norm Smith medals as best player in the grand final.

What’s the most iconic Dustin Martin moment in his 299 AFL games so far?

We’ll start…

[via TikTok/brodiedoolan] pic.twitter.com/jzeoHr2VSY

— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 12, 2024

He remains the only person to win three Norm Smith medals.

“We all know what’s he done, probably the greatest grand final player of the modern era, the power and the grace and the execution at critical moments, I think he’s unmatched,” St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said this week.

“He’s a pretty special.”

It wasn’t just grand finals but all finals in which Martin has excelled at a level beyond most of his peers.

He’s a three-time winner of the Gary Ayres Award for the best player in finals (2017, 2019, 2020). He is the only player to have won the award multiple times.

Martin is also set to become one of just three players in the history of the AFL to play 300 games and also win a Brownlow, a Norm Smith Medal and be part of an AFL premiership. Only Geelong’s Jimmy Bartel and Brisbane Lions legend Simon Black are members of that club.

“We can’t wait to celebrate him.
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“Hopefully we put on a performance our supporters are proud of and he is proud of.”

Adem Yze on Dustin Martin 💛🖤#TheFrontBarpic.twitter.com/zy9wTmzbqf

— The Front Bar - Wednesday night (@thefrontbar7) June 12, 2024

When it comes to the Brownlow, Martin is the only player since game-by-game votes were published to have polled Brownlow votes in eight consecutive games against the same opponent.

He made Essendon his plaything, polling 18 votes in those eight games from 2016-2021.

His 36 votes when he won the Brownlow in 2017 remain the record (shared with Oliver Wines) for the most votes in a season under the 3-2-1 voting system.

At club level he’s won two best and fairests and finished in the top three another seven times in a career that began in 2010.

Martin is in the final year of a seven-year contract at the Tigers, and his future in 2025 remains unclear.

Originally published as Dustin Martin has achieved records no one in the history of the AFL has ever matched