Richmond star Dustin Martin is absolutely driven to bring even more success to the Tigers
DUSTIN Martin has not given up on Ben Cousins, but he has had to park their friendship. MARK ROBINSON goes inside what happened between the former teammates and looks at why this version of Dusty is even more driven than before.
Richmond
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DUSTIN Martin has not given up on Ben Cousins, but he has had to park him.
At least block Cousins’ number on his mobile phone.
In the weeks and months leading up to Cousins being arrested and jailed for drug possession Cousins was hitting up his AFL mates for money and signed jumpers so he could sell them, presumably to buy more drugs.
He called one player at 3am, a call that went unanswered.
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He called Martin and his friends plenty of times, too, in search of the one possession he believed he could sell for quick bucks — the guernsey Cousins wore in his last game for Richmond and which he gave to Martin as a keepsake.
It’s not known where the guernsey is now, but Cousins wanted it back.
He also wanted other Martin signed guernseys.
The calls were incessant and eventually Martin blocked him.
That Cousins is back in jail is probably best for him and clearly, as September arrives, the best for Martin.
It is a small insight into the mindset of the Tigers champion — nothing will disturb his preparations for a back-to-back premiership tilt.
Dry July is understood to have progressed to dry August and probably dry September, further indicating his absolute focus.
Martin’s manager, Ralph Carr, and the Tigers knew Martin and Cousins were once close.
Cousins arrived at Richmond in 2009 a train wreck, got his life together, and departed in 2010 a cult hero.
Who could forget his last game against Port Adelaide?
He played with a hamstring injury in front of 38,000 in Round 22, completed a lap of honour and was chaired from the ground. He is now in jail.
Martin arrived at Richmond in 2010, worked through the responsibilities of being an AFL player, and on Thursday will play his 200th game in the qualifying final.
He is now, arguably, the best player in the AFL.
“Dustin is beautiful human being,” Carr said.
“He is so driven to have success for Richmond — I’d have coffee with him last year and I’d ask him about all the Brownlow Medal talk and he’d say, ‘Forget about that, Ralph, it’s more about us winning a flag’.
“He was never concerned about the personal accolades — I’ve never heard him talk about himself anyway.
“He’s humble … I saw him yesterday and he looks super fit. I asked him how he was feeling and he said, ‘Fantastic, I’m ready to go’.”
Ralph wasn’t aware of the Cousins situation or the request for signed guernseys.
“I didn’t know that, but knowing Dusty as well as I do, the moment someone would say that to him, he’d just walk away, he’s not interested in the slightest with that sort of rubbish,” Carr said.
“It’s a shame because like most kids at his age back then, he idolised Cousins.”
There’s team football at Richmond and then there’s team football at Richmond with a rampaging Martin.
The difference could be the premiership.
His colossal 2017 season was better than his 2018 season, but only just.
He’s marginally down in numbers in almost every key component for a midfield/forward, but that didn’t stop the All-Australian selectors naming him in the centre — and it hardly rated a mention.
Cast your mind back 12 months and Martin was more than a footballer, he was a media phenomenon.
He won every award imaginable and lived in everyone’s imagination.
His football, his contract talks and his dad’s deportation were front and square.
Media was unprecedented in footy-crazed Melbourne.
Then came September.
No other player entered last year’s finals series with the spotlight or expectation or a team’s hopes weighing on him as much as Martin — and what he delivered was imposing and exalted.
He was best afield in all of Richmond’s three finals.
Tiger folk still swoon over his game-changing production either side of three-quarter time in the Geelong final.
In the third quarter, he won a one-on-one against Tom Stewart which led to a Dion Prestia goal, and at the start of the last quarter was pivotal in goals to Shaun Grigg and Jacob Townsend.
In the preliminary final, he kicked three goals.
As Greater Western Sydney staggered in the third quarter, Martin moved to full-forward.
He took a mark against Heath Shaw and kicked the goal, Shaw held him at the next contest, Martin won the free and he kicked the goal, and at the start of the last quarter, Martin kicked the banana goal and it was good night Giants.
The next week he won the Norm Smith Medal.
None of that changed him.
He remains private and protective of his life, and largely avoids the media.
But one interview with website Complex AU last month, written by Brodie Lancaster, was clearly the most revealing of his career.
He said motivation for 2018 had to be found and harnessed.
“It was a really different feeling I had at the start of this year,” Martin said.
“You spend your whole life trying to achieve your dreams, and then when it all kind of happens … it’s a strange feeling. It’s like, ‘s--- — what’s next?’
“I probably put a bit of pressure on myself to live up to last year and in reality I didn’t need to; I just need to keep doing my bit for the side.
“Once I figured that out, my footy’s probably got a bit better in the last month.”
Teammate Jack Riewoldt described Martin’s season as “momentum building’’.
“He knows he’s a good player and he knows he needs to perform,” he said.
“It’s your job and you want to do your job to the best of your ability.
“He wants to perform, he is a big-stage player — he’s the best player in the competition isn’t he?”
While Riewoldt acknowledged Martin’s eminence as a player, he reiterated Carr’s offering that he was incredibly team focused.
“He is the ultimate team person, that’s the thing a lot of people don’t know about him, how much of a teammate he is,” Riewoldt said.
“He is as good a leader as we’ve got I reckon with team culture, as highly respected as anyone.
“When he talks everyone listens and he talks more often than he used to.”
Martin’s focus and/or priorities ahead of the qualifying final against the Hawks are not lost on Riewoldt.
He said Martin was not the only player at Richmond zeroing in on September, but acknowledged the public’s fascination with his teammate, combined with people such as Cousins always wanting to tug on his teammate’s coat tails, presents a whole set of different challenges.
“He is as professional as anyone off the field,” Riewoldt said.
“But he lives a complete different lifestyle and he can’t do a lot of stuff that I do, like go out and be normal.”
Conversely, all of Richmond wants Martin to be his normal inspiring self on the field.
Because while the Tigers’ success is team based and pressure laced, Martin is the one player who separates them from the rest.
“You ask me how he’s going, I’d say he’s primed,’’ Riewoldt said.
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Originally published as Richmond star Dustin Martin is absolutely driven to bring even more success to the Tigers