By Jon Pierik
Before the 2009 national draft, where he would be taken by Richmond with the No. 3 selection, Dustin Martin was asked who had been the greatest influence on his career to that point.
The answer: “Myself. Because I want the best out of myself.”
Richmond champion Dustin Martin plays his 300th game this weekend, in a storied AFL career.Credit: Artwork: Marija Ercegovac
In the years since, the likes of Damien Hardwick, Neil Balme, Brendon Gale and Trent Cotchin have all shaped Martin’s career on the way to becoming only the seventh Tiger to reach 300 games, a milestone he reaches on Saturday. But it’s the man himself, and the drive he has had, which morphed Martin into an AFL great and future Hall of Famer.
Here are 10 key moments that have helped shape Martin the man, and Martin the footballer.
1. 2017 grand final: A season for the ages
Martin capped off one of the greatest individual seasons with 29 disposals (a whopping 22 contested, six clearances), including two goals, as the Tigers stormed to a 48-point win over Adelaide, ending a 37-year club premiership drought. No player had won the Brownlow, Norm Smith and flag in the same season, but Martin rewrote history. “Yellow and black!” Martin bellowed with a double fist pump, accepting the Norm Smith Medal from James Hird.
This was the season when North Melbourne tempted the off-contract Martin (more on that below) with an outrageously lucrative offer. His mother Kathy, in the Tigers’ dressing room with other family members after the grand final, said her son was a man of destiny.
“I knew he would win that Brownlow Medal, I predicted it before the season even started. I knew he would get the Norm Smith Medal as well, because he has won everything else,” Kathy told this masthead.
2. 2020 grand final: Lights, camera, action
With the sport taken from Victoria because of the pandemic, and the Tigers struggling with the constraints of life in a Brisbane hub, it was Martin who soothed all ills with one of the greatest grand final efforts, becoming the first man to be a three-time Norm Smith medallist.
Under lights at the Gabba, Martin booted four goals among his 21 touches, turning a contest in which Geelong had led by 15 points at the main break.
One particularly brilliant moment lives on. Late in the game, he stole the ball from the feet of Rhys Stanley on the boundary line, turned, held off a lunging Patrick Dangerfield, spun and snapped through his fourth goal. “Dus-ty, Dus-ty,” the Tigers cheer squad roared, as The Age’s man on the spot, Andrew Stafford, reported at the time.
3. 2019 grand final: Becomes an all-time great
The Tigers, stung by a shock preliminary final defeat to Collingwood a year earlier, vowed redemption, and enjoyed that with an 89-point mauling of Greater Western Sydney at the MCG.
Those were the days: Damien Hardwick said Dustin Martin stamped his greatness after his second Norm Smith Medal, this time against Greater Western Sydney in 2019.Credit: Scott Barbour
Martin claimed back-to-back Norm Smith Medals, this time for four goals among his 22 disposals (12 contested). There had been pre-game chat about whether Giants stopper Matt de Boer would go to Martin.
He did, but Martin had the better of de Boer, and also pushed forward, leaving Sam Taylor or Heath Shaw to man him. His third goal, snapped from the forward pocket having gathered the ball while being tackled, signalled this contest was all but over. “The way he can influence a game is incredible,” coach Damien Hardwick said. “He will go down now as one of the all-time greats.”
Martin, who became only the fourth dual Norm Smith medallist, said he would have a special celebration. “I didn’t actually get a 2017 premiership tattoo, so I am definitely going to get one of both, 100 per cent,” Martin said.
Martin celebrates a goal during the opening round match against Carlton in 2017.Credit: Pat Scala
4. Round one, 2017 v Carlton: Unstoppable force
Setting the table for what footy legend Leigh Matthews would later describe the best home-and-away season a player had enjoyed, Martin was imperious against the Blues, with 33 disposals, six clearances and four goals. “He’s the ultimate professional, Dustin – he goes about his business, he trains incredibly hard, he looks after himself and he gets the result he deserves,” Hardwick said.
After an off-season of discontent amid a board challenge, with the coach under pressure to retain his job, and Balme brought in to help run the football department, the Tigers surged to a 43-point win, a sign of the grand things to come for the team – and Martin.
Having finished third in the Brownlow Medal count a year earlier, Martin was to have been a restricted free agent after the 2017 campaign, his strong form ensuring he would be a $1 million-a-year man in the AFL.
5. 2017: Crowned Brownlow medallist
In a season of domination, Martin claimed the sport’s highest individual honour, having guided the Tigers to their first AFL grand final in 35 years. The robust midfielder polled a record 36 votes, ahead of ineligible Geelong star Dangerfield (33) and Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell (25). He had a remarkable 11 three-vote games, averaging 30 disposals, 14 contested possessions, six clearances, six inside-50s, four tackles and a goal each game.
“To everyone in the Richmond footy club, what a week we’ve got in front of us, I can’t thank you enough, but I can’t wait to finish it off with success this week, hopefully,” a nervous Martin said upon accepting the medal. “And to my teammates I’m so proud of you all, and I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to achieve. This medal is because of each of you and the connection we have and the support we give each other. I couldn’t think of a better group of guys to go to the grand final with. We’ve worked hard all year for this moment and I’m excited for what we’re about to do.”
The shortest-priced favourite in Brownlow history, Martin became the sixth Tiger to take home “Charlie”. Martin was also named the most valuable player by the AFL Players Association and AFL Coaches Association, and later claimed the Jack Dyer Medal.
6. August 31, 2017: Signs seven-year contract
It might seem a touch odd to have a contract extension on a greatest moments list, but, in terms of the dynasty the Tigers went on to enjoy, if Martin had accepted the riches on offer at Arden St, the Tigers may not have even prevailed in 2017, let alone get near the holy grail in 2019 and 2020.
After months of speculation since confirming in January that a decision would not be made until after the season, including a meeting with Tigers’ powerbrokers on the day his signature was secured, Martin and his manager Ralph Carr announced they had secured a whopping seven-year deal, with industry figures estimating it was worth about $1.2 million a season.
Martin revealed he had twice met North Melbourne staff and players, the Kangaroos offering $1.5 million a year, also over seven years. “I certainly thought about it. It was a stressful year, believe it or not. I was kind of wrestling with myself,” Martin told The Footy Show.
“You’ve got to make the most out of your football career while you can, so with Ralph and my dad and people close to me, there was plenty of conversations, but in the end, Richmond’s home to me.”
Had Martin fudged the issue, and left it to the off-season, it remains a great “what if” whether this would have destabilised the Tigers through their 2017 finals campaign. Had he left, the Tigers could still have been searching for their 11th flag.
7. Outta my way: Develops the ‘don’t argue’
Martin wasn’t the first AFL player to use the fend-off, or as it’s generally dubbed, the “don’t argue”, but he has certainly become synonymous with this rugby-type tool to keep an opponent at bay.
There have been any number of Dusty fend-offs through the years, particularly when he bursts free from a stoppage. There was a night game against Melbourne in 2018 when, in one memorable sequence on the members’ wing at the MCG, he initially fended off Josh Wagner, then left Alex Neal-Bullen sprawling on the turf on the wing, before again escaping Wagner to retain possession and drive the Tigers into attack.
In 2021, The Age’s Michael Gleeson took a look at what made Martin so physically powerful. When it came to executing the “don’t argue”, Martin doesn’t benefit from having abnormally long arms, but he has timing. As Brisbane Lions great, and former Tigers assistant coach Justin Leppitsch said, Martin steps towards the tackler, not away, so he drives more force through his fend-off. He also reads the tackler to understand when the tackler has over-committed, and appears slightly overbalanced, and then times his fend-off.
“He has the power and lateral speed, but he times his move to step into the player and then throws out the fend-off and it makes it [the don’t argue] stronger,” Leppitsch said.
“He pushes. Most people think he is trying to run over people, but he actually pushes and runs away from them. They are trying to grab something that is not there for very long.”
8. December 17, 2021: Mourns his father
Martin and his father Shane were extremely tight. Shane Martin was deported to New Zealand in 2016 when his visa was cancelled on “character” grounds, this despite the senior Rebels bikie member having lived in Sydney for the majority of his adult life.
Martin with his father Shane Martin.
Martin made regular trips to see his father, including one two days before he agreed to his seven-year contract extension with the Tigers.
Shane’s death from a heart attack at his Mt Maunganui home on December 17, 2021, shattered the Tigers’ star, who took a leave of absence from the game after round one in 2022 to grieve. He returned in round eight, but managed only nine games that year, his future in the game suddenly clouded.
9. July 4, 2012: The wake-up call
This was a turning point for Martin, the Tigers sacking errant midfielder Daniel Connors, 23, and suspending Martin for a fortnight for failing to attend a training session as a result of taking sleeping medication. Connors had been prescribed the medication, Martin, given the tablets from another friend, not revealing to the Tigers he had also had a couple of drinks.
The incident was strike three for Connors, who had been suspended for eight matches two seasons earlier after an alcohol-fuelled incident at a Sydney hotel, and had found trouble over the pre-season.
From left: Tigers Dustin Martin, Chris Newman, Luke McGuane, Ben Cousins and Daniel Connors in 2010.Credit: Vince Caligiuri
Martin’s on-field form had not been an issue since his debut in 2010, he had finished third in the best and fairest in his second season, but this was a wake-up call to the standards and expectations the Tigers were building under emerging administration led by chief executive Brendon Gale and Hardwick.
Martin was taken at pick No.3 in the 2009 national draft.Credit: Sebastian Costanzo
10. November 2009: Martin becomes a Tiger
Of course, draft day has to be in this list. Remember, Melbourne had the top two picks in the 2009 national draft, the Tigers sweating over the young lad from Castlemaine who recruiting manager Francis Jackson had labelled a “special talent”.
“Despite leaving school early, he [Martin] has had terrific life experiences and is a very hard worker. He is a nice country kid, very humble, but has a fanatical desire to be the best he can,” Jackson said.
The Tigers knew a year out from the draft Martin was a top-five pick, this affirmed when he won All-Australian selection in the under-18 team of ’09. The Tigers had a sigh of relief when the Demons took Tom Scully (187 games for the Demons, GWS and Hawthorn before retiring in 2020) and Jack Trengove (89 games for the Demons, Port Adelaide before retiring in 2019).
In his own pre-draft written words, Martin, who barracked for St Kilda because of a family friendship with former player Rod Keogh, said he most resembled Joel Selwood of current AFL players.“Good around contests, good skill level and decision-making,” Martin said of the fabled Cat.
Asked what type of player he was himself, Martin said: “A centre, who is a good clearance player. Can run and carry, can play both ends and set up attacks.”
Fifteen years on, Martin continues to do just that.
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