By Peter Ryan
Richmond great Dustin Martin turned to his coach Damien Hardwick as they left the post-match media conference to join teammates celebrating their 2020 premiership at the Gabba.
“They hardly asked a question about the game,” Martin said.
Little did the champion Tiger know the questions about his performance were proving difficult to find after he had just won his third Norm Smith Medal in four seasons, securing him the title of the greatest big-game player the sport had ever seen.
We were eager to know more, about him, about his moods and mysteries, and the mindset that enabled him to always deliver when the team needed him most.
But perhaps that question to his beloved coach told us all we needed to know about Dusty.
He loved the game. All the rest, particularly anything personal, was irrelevant to his wish to perform at a higher level than anyone had managed before him.
What could he say anyway? His greatness was in his performance.
That night at the Gabba he won the game for Richmond. His goal just before half-time turned the match. It was the Tigers’ first goal for half an hour, and he had no right to kick it. Geelong’s Jake Kolodjashnij was attached to him like a backpack when Martin crumbed a spoil, half extended a “don’t argue”, while kicking a goal around his body and off-balance.
He kicked three more in the second half to complete his coronation.
Richmond’s run started in 2017 when he had a season that one of the game’s greatest players, Leigh Matthews, described as the best played. Martin won the Brownlow Medal and the Norm Smith Medal as he led the Tigers to a drought-breaking premiership after re-signing with the club on the eve of the finals.
His crumbing handball to Kane Lambert in the 2017 preliminary final, his kick to Marlion Pickett in the 2019 grand final, his crumbing goal as the Tigers roared back after half-time in the 2019 preliminary final and his goal from the boundary in his 200th game – the 2018 qualifying final – are part of Tiger folklore.
They elicited a rock-star roar; a player as in touch with what his fans really wanted as those probing him to know appeared out of touch to him.
Then Tom Hawkins announced on the same day he was retiring at season’s end.
The big Tomahawk is as adored in Geelong as Dusty is at Tigerland, having overcome doubters early in his career to forge one of the game’s finest careers, with three flags and 796 goals, so far.
His ability to kick goals from boundary throw-ins became as signature a move as Dusty’s don’t argue, getting the Cats off to a flier with the first two goals in the 2022 grand final having brought the team home in the 2011 grand final.
Hawkins was an open book, as friendly as a labrador, a cool Cat as tough as the retiring Tiger.
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