Dusty’s Decade: How peak Dustin Martin compares to the game’s midfield greats
Dustin Martin has dominated his first decade of footy with two Norm Smiths, two flags, a Brownlow Medal and a top-10 best and fairest finish in every one of his seasons, but how does he compare to the midfield greats of the game?
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The retired champion whose style of play most closely resembles Dustin Martin admits to having a man crush on the Brownlow medallist.
Eight-time All Australian Mark Ricciuto has been caught up in Martin mania at a time that the Tiger superstar has eclipsed Lance Franklin as the game’s most popular player.
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“My kid barracks for Richmond because of Dusty and my cat is named Dusty after Dusty,” Ricciuto told the Herald Sun.
“I like him and my kids like him and he’s my favourite player to watch in the AFL.
“His kicking is brilliant, he is dangerous in the centre square, he is dangerous setting up forwards and he is dangerous when he’s forward, which is why he is the best player in the comp.
“I am a very poor man’s Dusty. With less tattoos, less hair, less premierships, less Brownlows.”
If Patrick Dangerfield dragged the AFL’s stars into the Bushfire relief game, Martin showed his class by winning the best-afield medal.
The fact he took home that award for a handful of exquisite moments only adds to his mystique.
This has truly been Dusty’s Decade, a 10-year period during which he has played 224 of a possible 231 games for Richmond.
He has never finished out of the club’s top-10 in the best-and-fairest with seven podium finishes.
He has won two flags, two Norm Smith Medals, a Brownlow and three All-Australian guernseys.
At just 28, he should roar past 300 games and set himself for a mammoth games tally by the time he retires.
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It is hard to think of a more dominant player in their first decade, but Chris Judd was six times All Australian in the same time frame while Gary Ablett Jr had one of his two Brownlows, two flags and five All-Australian nods.
We are truly in the era of Peak Dusty.
The Herald Sun canvassed greats of the game at Monday’s Fox Footy season launch to ask how Martin compared to footy’s best midfielders.
Alastair Lynch compared Martin to triple-premiership captain Michael Voss, who he played alongside for 11 seasons.
“Vossy was in the middle more but those strong bodies that can just win a one-on-one or take a mark and just change the game, they are very similar the way they want about it,” Lynch said.
“They are so hard to tackle. Vossy’s great ability was not the fend, but he would get his hands free to get the handball away. Both are incredibly powerful.
“I love his ability in one on ones to make the most of his touches.
“In the Grand Final he was that far the difference in the Norm Smith Medal, it was ridiculous.”
Dermott Brereton, who played with Leigh Matthews laughed when he said Martin kicks better than Matthews — who won eight best-and-fairests, kicked 915 goals and amassed 7374 possessions.
“Having said that Leigh found a way to get it through the goals,” Brereton said.
“I would love to say there are real similarities. But Leigh ended up as a small forward who could mark over his head.
“Dusty ends up as a mid-sized forward who can outmark one-on-one but not overhead.”
Brereton said he had never seen anyone in the past decade who was a better decision maker or calmer with the footy than Martin.
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“But in an era where if you get 20 possessions you were in the top three players, the amount of times Leigh got 30 plus was phenomenal and you add 900-plus goals.
“So we are talking Lance Franklin’s goalkicking prowess with about 5000 more possessions.”
Jordan Lewis, who shared the field with dual Norm Smith Medallist Luke Hodge, said both players gave their teammates “supreme confidence” that they would perform.
“Martin does the stuff that you can never really picture yourself doing but Hodgey did the reliable things so well,” Lewis said.
“Dusty is more eye-catching but the typical stuff was the hard and tough stuff and his ability to be in the contest and make good decisions set him part from anyone else.”