Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin is primed for the AFL finals

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick warns Hawthorn that Dustin Martin has rediscovered “incredibly damaging” form. PLUS — Why the Tigers rank last for clearances.

RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick yesterday warned Hawthorn that Dustin Martin had rediscovered “incredibly damaging” form and was “primed” for September.

Martin, 27, will wear special boots to celebrate his 200th match tonight as the Tigers hunt their 22nd consecutive win at the MCG and a preliminary final berth.

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The Brownlow Medallist has given up drinking and recently blocked former teammate Ben Cousins’ phone number after repeated attempts to acquire Martin’s memorabilia to sell for cash.

“I’d love to say that as a coaching group we’ve had an enormous impact on Dustin — but he just plays,” Hardwick said.

“The season he had last year, I’d never seen a better season. Can you live up to that? It’s going to be tough.

“(But) now he’s playing the consistent brand of footy that we know and love, and he’s incredibly damaging because of it.

Dustin Martin kicks the ball during training at Punt Road Oval on Tuesday.

Hardwick said Martin’s highlights tape lasted 35 minutes as he replaces Brett Deledio as the quickest Tiger to play 200 games.

Midfield star Kane Lambert proved at Tuesday’s main session he had overcome ankle surgery and will return with Brandon Ellis the unlucky omission.

Goalkicker Dan Butler (ankle) won’t play AFL or VFL this weekend and is suddenly in a race to be fit this September.

Kane Lambert returns for the Tigers at the expense of the unlucky Brandon Ellis.

Butler, 22, played the first half in the VFL last week but Hardwick said his injury “wasn’t quite responding the way we’d like”.

The Tigers won’t tag Brownlow Medal favourite Tom Mitchell and Hardwick said he wouldn’t be spooked by the genius of Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson.

“80 per cent of what Hawthorn do we’re probably going to know. and 20 per cent is unknown,” Hardwick said.

Everyone wants a piece of their favourite as Dustin Martin greets the fans. Picture: Alex Coppel

“We can prepare for the 20 or we can prepare for the 80 — I think we’ll just prepare for the 80 and deal with the 20.”

Rain and possible thunderstorms are forecast, which could disrupt Hawthorn’s elite kicking and uncontested gamestyle.

“We enjoy playing in the wet, if it is going to be wet,” Hardwick said.

The Tigers rank last in clearances and the Herald Sun last week revealed they had dropped off in several key areas late in the season.

“Ideally we’d love to win the ball at stoppages, we’re (ranked last) but we’re also (ranked last) for free kicks,” Hardwick said.

“We’re giving away a lot of free kicks at stoppages and that’s the reason we’re losing stoppages.

Picture perfect: Richmond's Dustin Martin sends the Tigers deep into attack. Picture: Michael Klein

“We’ve just got to be a little bit more careful with our aggression around the ball.”

The Tigers are -31 for pre-clearance free kick differential with Toby Nankervis (18), Martin (11) and Trent Cotchin (10) the biggest infringers.

But even without the whistles they would still be clearly ranked last for clearances.

Hardwick attributed 2014-18 All-Australian Alex Rance’s perceived drop off to the rise of his teammates.

Rance, 28, has taken only three of his 22 contested marks for the season in the past 10 weeks.

“I haven’t seen a better defender play the game since Matthew Scarlett retired,” Hardwick said.

“The improvement around him has taken the shine off him, if that makes sense.”