Ex-Collingwood player, Noble Park champ Kyle Martin wins 10th top gong

A FORMER Collingwood midfielder and Noble Park Football Club captain has won his fourth consecutive best and fairest gong, bringing his medal tally to ten in 11 seasons.

HE’S the Mr Medals of suburban football.

Noble Park Football Club champion Kyle Martin last night captured his fourth consecutive Peter Reece Medal as best and fairest for the Bulls, continuing his remarkable run in vote counts.

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The former Collingwood midfielder has claimed 10 best and fairest awards in 11 years.

Martin won the award at Haileybury College in 2008 and gained his first at senior level in 2009 at Noble.

Kyle Martin at the huddle in the final round this year.

He missed out in 2010 after missing part of the season with injury, but since then he has won the best and fairest every year he’s played — at Noble Park in 2011, Frankston VFL in 2013, Collingwood VFL in 2013-14 and Noble from 2015, ’16, ’17 and ’18.

Martin was also a much-decorated junior footballer, winning a string of Noble Park best and fairests and the Under 15 league medal and the goalkicking in 2005.

“He’s the best player I’ve seen at local level,’’ Bulls coach Mick Fogarty said this year after another stand-out performance from his skipper.

Drafted after winning Frankston’s best and fairest, Martin played six AFL games for Collingwood, pushing up from the rookie list.

But at the end of 2014 he showed his back to the AFL, content to return to his work as a plumber and to play at Noble Park.

Kyle Martin the Magpie marking against Melbourne.

“It was a tough decision to make but I weighed up all the options I had in front of me and decided working and playing at Noble Park would make me the happiest,’’ Martin told Leader in 2015.

“I was offered a rookie-list contract.

“Obviously there were options to have a look elsewhere. In talking to my manager (Nigel Carmody), there wasn’t a whole lot of interest and I sort of decided if there wasn’t a primary-list spot it would be tough to go on a rookie list for a third year.

“It was partly financial but there were a lot mental things with it, just having security and, you know, being on the list and being ready and available to play … waiting for something to happen to you, waiting for the door to open. Sometimes that door might never open. It’s tough, mentally. It can get you down.

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“It was also about being able to be myself again, express myself. I have a serious side but I’m a jovial sort of person and sometimes they don’t fit very well into the AFL mound.’’

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was a Martin fan and tried to talk him around.

“Bucks was understanding and supportive. He wanted me to do the thing I thought was best for me. The old man (his father, John) was disappointed. He was. But he now understands the reasons why I did it and he supports me 100 per cent.’’

In last night’s count Martin came in clear of vice-captain Jackson Sketcher and the fast-rising Luke Nelson, who has a string of VFL clubs on his tail.

Sketcher and Nelson tied for second and the promising Ali Zijai was third.

“Obviously it’s pretty humbling to be up here,’’ Martin said after being presented with the medal by club great Reece.

“This club’s been a massive part of my life and I don’t know why I’m so emotional right now but it really means a lot to me.’’

Martin said he wanted “this team and this club to be successful and get back to where it belongs’’.

“It’s on us as players to really dig and to not accept where we’ve been over the last couple of years, and that starts now, that starts talking to ‘Coatsy’ (football manager Steve Coats) and being committed. You’re either committed or you’re not. Make the hard call now.’’

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