King of Punt Road: Dustin Martin's immortality amongst Richmond greats
Dustin Martin will become the 104th player to reach the illustrious 300-game club.
IMAGE: The Examiner
Trademark Dusty: Dustin Martin tells Adelaide’s Rory Atkins you’re not tackling me in the 2017 Grand Final.
Class.
Elegance.
Unstoppable.
For 15 seasons, Dustin Martin has lit up the football field with his match-winning displays.
Natural instincts in the greats take over a game, whether in a quarter, a 10-minute patch, or on the Grand Stage's pulsating conclusion.
When he takes the field on Saturday, he'll become the seventh Richmond player to play 300 games.
It is no mean feat.
Longevity is something Martin has excelled at.
Since debuting in 2010, the 32-year-old has played 20 plus matches in a season 12 times, including 10 seasons straight, before being restricted to 16 games in 2021 after suffering a season-ending kidney injury in round 18 in a collision with Brisbane's Mitch Robinson.
In 2022, soft-tissue setbacks and time away from the game held him to a career-low nine matches.
Before Martin even played an AFL game, intrigue surrounded where he would head come the 2009 National Draft.
Melbourne occupied picks one and two, selecting Tom Scully and Jack Trengove.
Richmond held the third pick.
Sydney was keen on drafting the highly-touted Bendigo Pioneers prospect by trading picks six and fourteen to move up the draft board for Richmond's pick three.
Inevitably, the Tigers weren't about to miss out on Martin, with then Recruiting Manager Francis Jackson keeping true to his word.
When Martin arrived at Punt Road, Richmond had a disappointing 2009, finishing 15th with only five wins after a season filled with finals aspirations.
There wasn't much to bank upon for Richmond, who were about to embark on a rebuild.
Martin would feature in those plans as the spine to being part of the Tigers' next premiership.
Right away, he seamlessly fitted into the frantic pace of the AFL, not looking out of place.
Despite the Tigers losing nine consecutive games to start 2010, the teenage Martin was a bright spot, collecting 20 or more touches in four of his first eight games.
His performances wouldn't go unnoticed as he deservingly won the round 10 Rising Star nominee for his gritty match against Port Adelaide. He finished with 21 disposals (17 contested) and 11 clearances in treacherous conditions at Football Park.
Despite his nomination, he was unfortunately ineligible for the award due to a rough conduct charge against Sydney's Josh Kennedy in round three.
Martin wasn't your typical first-year footballer.
He was solidly built, with his core strength to get out of congestion even at the young of 19, as demonstrated in a round 14 clash against Sydney at the MCG when he ripped the ball out of Jarrad McVeigh's hands in a stoppage and threw it onto his boot for a goal.
He may not have taken home the Rising Star, but by his second year (2011), he was a superstar waiting in the wings.
In round five against North Melbourne was his coming-of-age game, collecting 33 disposals and booting four goals - two of which came in the final term, drawing adulation from coach Damien Hardwick.
By now, he'd become the game's next young star to the point opposition attention turned to quelling his influence in games.
Fremantle successfully tagged Martin two rounds later, restricting him to only 11 touches - the second-fewest of his career.
Martin finished the season averaging 22.1 disposals and kicking 33 goals.
In 2013 GWS came circling for him, with Martin visiting the club's facilities. But those fears subsided as he re-signed a two-year deal to remain at Tigerland.
His ascent as one of the league's premier players grew week by week.
His trademark fend-offs left the opposition in the rearview mirror.
But even scarier was Richmond deploying him as the deepest forward.
Much spookier than flicking on a Jaws movie.
Numerous players have succumbed to Martin's prowess and smarts around the sticks, from Levi Greenwood, Zach Tuohy, and Joel McDonald, to name a few.
League legends James Hird, Leigh Matthews, Adam Goodes, Gary Ablett Jr, Jason Akermanis, Tim Watson, and Mark Riccuito are among many midfielders who would go forward and hurt the opposition.
Akermanis was one of the league's mercurial workers around goals from his barnstorming run out of the middle against Fremantle in 2001 to beating Shaun Burgoyne one-on-one in attacking 50 in Darwin in 2008 to those two ridiculous goals in the wet against Geelong in 2005.
Martin raises this bar even higher.
When you watch him, you think you have him covered, only for him to lay out his right hand and effortlessly flat-palm aside his opponent.
He makes opponents look foolish.
There is a Jonah Lomu finesse to him, especially when the All-Black icon shoved aside Jeremy Guscott, Austin Healy, and Matt Dawson en route for a try against England at Twickenham in the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
Former Richmond assistant Justin Leppistch spoke in March 2021 to The Age's Michael Gleeson about the best approach to tackle Martin, to which he said, "I wouldn't overcommit on the first tackle."
Again, numerous players have fallen bait to Martin's brute strength.
2016 was a downward year for Richmond.
Whilst Martin was playing barnstorming football (averaging 31.1 disposals), the Tigers hit a cliff, losing seven of its final nine games, including deplorable outings against GWS (88 points) and Sydney (113 points).
Entering the prime of his career, Martin was ready to produce one of the most scintillating campaigns by a player in recent memory.
He went ballistic mode, ripping this way past the middle with a blaze of a Ferrari and fooling opponents with his majestical class.
Nothing was stopping him.
Only his contract situation.
As the months eclipsed, his future at Punt Road became a talking point.
Skipper Trent Cotchin and coach Damien Hardwick nervously awaited Martin's decision.
But the long wait would end.
After flying to New Zealand to visit his dad (Shane) and alongside his manager Ralph Carr, they agreed Richmond was the best fit to stay, with the team in premiership contention.
In late August, Martin put pen to paper on an extravaganza seven-year $9 million deal to re-commit to Richmond.
North Melbourne threw gargantuan money for Martin to come to Arden Street - a deal worth $11 million.
In the aftermath, Hardwick yelped in his words like a 12-year-old at the news of Martin staying.
He was just getting started in adding to his football legacy.
Finals is where legends are born.
Come September, he ran amok, and his unselfish acts were on show to witness, especially when he gave the ball off to a streaming Kane Lambert instead of kicking the goal in the preliminary final against GWS.
Fittingly, Richmond ended a 37-year premiership drought, with Martin awarded the Norm Smith Medal in a narrow finish over teammate Bachar Houli.
Since then, his September highlight reels have become longer, cementing him as one of the greatest finals players in history.
Performances from his six-goal in the 2019 Qualifying Final against Brisbane, 22 disposals and four goals in the Grand Final over GWS, and the 2020 Grand Final against Geelong, putting the team on his back.
Martin's football achievements speak for themselves.
A four-time All-Australian, triple Premiership player, AFL Coaches Association player of the year, Brownlow Medallist, Leigh Matthews trophy, and a triple Norm Smith Medallist.
A lengthy list of accolades.
Teammates of Martin, particularly Trent Cotchin, who took him under his wing, have said nothing but admiration of his character.
Quiet by nature, his quintessential football masterpieces have shone brightly.
Players of his calibre are hard to replace.
When he does decide to retire, his match-winning displays and moments of turning the contest around will live on in football immortality.
Dustin Martin is a Richmond legend.