Gary Ayres Medal: Tigers star Dustin Martin caps perfect AFL season
DUSTIN Martin is going to need a new trophy case after adding yet another gong to his remarkable 2017 haul, named the Gary Ayres Medallist for the best player of the finals series.
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DUSTIN Martin is going to need a new trophy case after adding yet another gong to his remarkable 2017 haul, named the Gary Ayres Medalist.
Martin won the best player of the 2017 finals series, scoring eight votes in Richmond’s 48-point Grand Final win over Adelaide, giving him 25 across the series, 10 ahead of his captain Trent Cotchin.
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Martin had 29 disposals (22 contested), six clearances, and kicked two goals in the decider, with only Norm Smith Medal runner-up Bachar Houli scoring more votes in the decider — a perfect 10.
“I congratulate Dustin on an awesome season,” former Hawthorn champion Gary Ayres, whom the medal is named after, said.
“He performed at an extraordinary level, all the time under the pressure of his contract and Brownlow favouritism once Paddy Dangerfield was suspended.
“If anything, it seemed to me he lifted his game in the Finals Series.
“Well done to the young man.”
The Ayres Medal capped a remarkable individual season where he scooped just about every major individual AFL award available, including the Brownlow, Norm Smith, AFLCA Champion Player of the Year, AFL Players MVP, Herald Sun Player of Year and Richmond’s best and fairest, the Jack Dyer Medal.
Martin was the odds on favourite at $1.40 to take out the award with Cotchin at $4.50 before the first bounce.
The medal, established by the AFL Coaches’ Association last year, is bestowed upon the player awarded the most votes by the coaches during the finals series, on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Sydney star Josh Kennedy (18 votes) won the award last year, one vote ahead of 2016 Norm Smith Medallist and Western Bulldogs’ premiership star Jason Johannisen (17).
None of the top five favourites for the medal this weekend were among the best backed before the finals.
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