DontArgue4
17🏆19🏆20🏆
- May 3, 2013
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- Houston Rockets, Arsenal, PhiEagles
Did he actually claim that?
hahahahah
IF he wins one, Dusty still has 2 AND 2 norm smiths
absolute muppet
Player Watch #4 Dustin Martin GOAT and King of Punt Rd - OFFICIALLY RETIRED
- Thread starter Sterge
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Did he actually claim that?
hahahahah
IF he wins one, Dusty still has 2 AND 2 norm smiths
absolute muppet
Only played 1 good year if you ask the salty oppo fans.
TheLoungeLizard
The world's most handsome man
Those two seasons Dusty won the Coleman were prime seasons
- Sep 8, 2013
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Where does the great man predominantly play this week? I think he’s definitely going to get some attention
Great article by Campbo today on DM4
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...ey-to-richmond-greatness-20201022-p567gl.html
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...ey-to-richmond-greatness-20201022-p567gl.html
Really enjoyed this article and it's a refreshing change to have a story written by someone with inside information rather than just rehashing the same old pre-conceived ideas based on assumption, innuendo, and media bias!
Couple of parts I loved:
The memory is still vivid. I was sitting in the Graham Richmond room at the Richmond Football Club as Francis Jackson, the club's national recruiting manager, took the coaches through the draftees his team had selected in the previous week's 2009 national draft.
He had selected Dustin Martin, from Castlemaine, with pick three. It's always an optimistic time for recruiters, but Francis seemed particularly pleased with himself this year.
Dustin Martin, who impressed coaches immediately at Richmond, in 2010.CREDIT:CRAIG SILLITOE
He made three points:
- He thought Dustin was the best player in the draft (they always do!);
- He was unique player, in that he was an inside mid, who unlike a few going around the league who played inside the contest, was also a beautiful kick, and;
- He probably wouldn't captain the club.
The first two have proved to be absolutely true but it was the third descriptor that I remember generating the most discussion at the time. Leadership is always high on the list of attributes when ranking players, so for Frank to be so candid was interesting.
"Why is that?" someone asked.
"He's different. He's quiet. He's from a unique background. But don't worry, in 10 years' time we wont be talking about his lack of leadership," was the way I remember Francis answering the query.
To have watched Dustin's journey is to see the way football can help and nurture a young person to grow into a man, while fulfilling their sporting ambitions.
Dustin was instantly likable. He was shy and awkward but still, people naturally gravitated to him. And boy, could he play.
His first training session was a sign of things to come. There was a stoppage drill; the ball got hit to him, he pivoted, planted his hand on the chest of a would-be tackler (his arm was much skinnier back then) and dispensed with them before kicking a quaint, perfectly weighted 20-metre left-footer that seemed to nestle into the hands of a leading forward.
And:
There was a dalliance with leaving the Tigers, including a much-publicised tour of the GWS Giants' facility. The meeting with coach Leon Cameron proved the turning point. The more Leon asked Dustin about Richmond, the more he relaxed. When asked about the people at Richmond, his eyes lit up and he was effusive in his praise. Everyone in the meeting knew where he should be playing his football. By 5pm that night, Dusty was a Tiger again.
There were a couple of issues off the field. I will make comment on only one.
It has been well documented that he had an incident at a Japanese restaurant with some chopsticks allegedly being used threateningly. Once told of the alleged account I tossed it around in my head for a few minutes before it hit me. "He didn't do it," I said to myself.
It's common for anyone who looks like Dustin to be stereotyped. But ask anyone who knows him, he is a teddy bear, and I, like many, just want to hug the man he has become.
Multiple investigations cleared him of the allegation.
Scott will double tag him or something ridiculous, just watch.
Dont_Argue
17🏆19🏆20🏆
- Nov 22, 2012
- 369
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surely only one more norm smith and a 100 goal season playing full time forward from being the undisputed GOAT
If he has a big game and gets us over the line tomorrow
He will 100% become the best tiger player i have ever seen and im nearly 55 years old so remember alot of the greats
Dusty has the ability and reliability to play 350+ games
Last edited:
TheLoungeLizard
The world's most handsome man
You just know if we win, regardless of how he plays he will win the medal
Media would froff it
Media would froff it
I’m nearly half your age so it’s a given that Dusty is the best tiger I’ve seen play in the flesh. I also find it hard to believe that Royce Hart, Kevin Bartlett or Jack Dyer were even better than Dusty. Like, how is that possible? If any or all of them were, then so be it, what a proud and strong club we are.
The thing is there will never be another Dyer, Bartlett, Hart or Martin. They’re all special.
Bartlett was bloody good
403 games (300 as a rover)
780 goals
destroyed teams in finals. Very very under rated player
Royce was just such a beautiful foward to watch and so skilled and reliable , Strange thing is he was the same height as Dusty
only played 187 games and kicked 370 odd goals but just beautiful to watch.
IMO Dusty had Royce covered and is equal with Bartlett (only going by players i have watched)
Richo was the player i think had the worst luck if he had played in this current team he would just have been unstoppable
Don't think that's on the cards now - see who's on the judging panel:
Leigh Matthews (3AW, Chairperson), Lauren Arnell (ABC), Malcolm Blight (SEN SA), Damian Barrett (AFL.com.au) and Peter Ryan (The Age) will be the five people to decide the best player in the Toyota AFL Grand Final.
Revealed: Norm Smith Medal judges for the Toyota AFL Grand Final
The AFL has released the five-person panel to judge the Norm Smith Medal
www.afl.com.au
Gold Rocks
Club Legend
- Oct 2, 2019
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Dusty ill kiss you on the dick if you win it again 
Tiger_Of_Old
THE_GUN:"Why don't you use your reg acc"7/9/24
Once again.Thank you MFC!
AFL Grand Final 2020: How Dustin Martin went from Castlemaine kid to modern-day great at Richmond
Only four men in VFL/AFL history have won dual Norm Smith Medals, but none have won three. Richmond superstar Dustin Martin has the chance to do exactly that when he faces off against Geelong in Saturday’s decider.
Sam Landsberger, Gold Coast, News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
Subscriber only
|
October 23, 2020 4:54pm
Close
AFL: David King explains why the Cats simply must send a man to contain Tigers superstar Dustin Martin on Grand Final day.
MORE IN SPORT
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Fantasia picks Port as Crows in limbo on Crouch compo
1 to 44: Every Grand Final player ranked
Dustin Martin the 17-year-old walked on to the Golden Square netball courts.
The cleanskin kid from Castlemaine had arrived at footy training early and decided to warm up with some party tricks.
He had no idea Richmond was watching.
“For 15 minutes I watched Dustin just in front of me – he didn’t know I was there – kicking boomerang goals from the netball court, which was lateral to the footy field,” Tigers recruiter Francis Jackson told the Herald Sun.
“I’d driven up to watch Dustin train – sometimes you can learn a bit watching them train – and I’ll never forget sitting there in the cold at Golden Square.”
Catch Fox Footy’s Grand Final Week coverage on Kayo. Stream all the latest news and insight right up until first bounce plus halftime and full-time analysis from the Fox Footy commentary team. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Dustin Martin before being taken by Richmond in the 2009 AFL Draft.
In 2009 an early draft choice beckoned for the Tigers after they sacked coach Terry Wallace at two wins and nine losses.
But Jordan McMahon’s goal after the final siren against Melbourne in Round 18 helped gift the Demons a priority pick in a game everyone bar the AFL accepts that the Dees threw.
Melbourne ended up with the first two golden selections in a draft flush for midfielders, and Martin had rattled to the finish line.
BEST BETS: WILL TIGERS MAKE IT THREE FROM FOUR?
RAIN DANCE: WHY TIGERS ARE PRAYING FOR GRAND FINAL DOWNPOUR
In Martin’s final three TAC Cup matches he averaged 153 SuperCoach points and collected 32 disposals each time.
But the Tigers – armed with pick No. 3 – had fallen in love with the future megastar a long time before then and ranked him a clear No.1.
“I remember I saw him play as a bottom-age player and thought, ‘my goodness’,” Jackson said.
“His power and speed was just phenomenal. We were all over him.”
Martin adopted a strict off-season training regimen before his draft year – and it paid dividends.
In August that year, the Tigers appointed Hawthorn assistant Damien Hardwick as coach over Geelong’s Ken Hinkley and, about four days before the national draft, their prayers were answered.
“We found out Melbourne were picking (Tom) Scully and (Jack) Trengove, and our recruiting department jumped straight in a car, drove up to Bendigo and organised to meet Dustin,” Jackson said.
“We went and played golf at Eaglehawk.
“Dustin had never played golf before and it was a bit like Happy Gilmore, he basically had a run up.
“We had lots of laughs and then we drove back to the Shamrock Hotel in Bendigo and had lunch with his mum (Kathy) and his grandma (Lois) and told him we were picking him, that we had strong advice Melbourne were taking Trengove and Scully and that Dustin was going to become a Tiger.
“They were delighted at that, and we were delighted with Dustin, because we knew he had attributes that were unique.”
Martin accepts his guernsey from coach Damien Hardwick after being snapped up by the Tigers with Pick 3. Picture: George Salpigtidis
Martin’s boomerangs from the Golden Square netball courts can be traced back to a childhood spent attached to a Sherrin.
His parents converted one of the paddocks at the family farm into football field complete with goalposts.
“Before school in the morning he would go out and have a kick. Then he’d come home from school, drop his bag at the door and he’d be out kicking the football again,” Lois said.
“When he was five he had a football in his hand all the time.
“He’d sleep with it and even go to bed with a St Kilda cap on.”
DUSTY AND I: TIGER PEGGY’S ONE NON-NEGOTIABLE FOR MARTIN
DYNASTY: HOW TIGERS RAIDED THE ROOKIE DRAFT TO BUILD SUCCESS
Martin’s Nan delivered that anecdote to the Herald Sun shortly after he had won his first Norm Smith Medal in 2017, in a week in which Martin also became a premiership player and Brownlow Medallist.
Perhaps he was a touch fortunate in the ’17 Grand Final.
Both Hardwick and Adelaide coach Don Pyke thought Bachar Houli was best-on-ground, as did Wallace, who voted on the medal.
Eight years after uniting at Richmond, Martin and Hardwick celebrated winning the 2017 premiership. Picture: Phil Hillyard
But the AFL world was giddy with “Dusty” fever at the time and it was fitting that he capped one of the best individual seasons ever seen with a trio of medals, having just polled a record 36 Brownlow votes and inked an $8.75 million contract extension.
Last year, it was a different story.
Martin (four goals) was the unanimous choice for a second Norm Smith Medal and, against Geelong on Saturday night, he has the chance to become the game’s first three-time winner of the prestigious award in history.
“Geez, imagine becoming a three-time Norm Smith winner,” said Gary Ayres, the first person to win two.
“Uniqueness and greatness, they’re two words that come to mind.”
Ayres won the medal in 1986 and 1988 and was joined by Andrew McLeod (1997-98), Luke Hodge (2008 and 2014) and then Martin (2017 and 2019) as the only multiple recipients.
Hawthorn heroes Ayres and Hodge both marvelled at Martin’s “elite” consistency.
Martin with his 2019 premiership and Norm Smith medals. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/via Getty Images
Ayres, now a VFL coaching legend at Port Melbourne and former Cats and Adelaide coach, said Geelong needed to find someone with size and strength after Martin treated lightweight preliminary final match-up Darcy Byrne-Jones like one of his TAC Cup opponents.
“As an old defender you really want that pressure to be high-octane when the ball is coming in,” Ayres said.
“He’s such a powerful mark and powerful athlete but someone who’s got a little bit more size on Dusty and is just as strong, if not stronger, would be a suggestion from an old ex-coach.”
Jake Kolodashnij looms as the man, although Hodge warned that Martin could burn you twice.
How often does Kane Lambert start forward and spit into the midfield, giving Martin a deadly amount of freedom?
“He’s got some teammates around him that are playing really selfless roles around half-forward who work up for him,” Hodge said.
Richmond Tigers Captain Trent Cotchin called two Queensland AFL volunteers to congratulate them on getting AFL tickets and thanking them for their contribution to the game.
“He gets to either exploit a midfielder who’s not as strong as him when he sneaks forward, or if he plays forward he can work up the ground and exploit a defender who isn’t as smart around a stoppage.
“Having a bloke who can play mid and forward and do both equally well … it’s a dangerous match-up.”
Hodge won his Norm Smiths two years apart and pocketed his second after his 30th birthday.
It has him thinking Martin won’t be done devouring finals by 10pm at the Gabba.
“For a bloke who’s 29, and if you assess Richmond’s list and where they’re going, I’m tipping he’s going to be playing finals for the next few years,” Hodge said.
“What he could be …. who knows?”
AFL Grand Final 2020: How Dustin Martin went from Castlemaine kid to modern-day great at Richmond
Only four men in VFL/AFL history have won dual Norm Smith Medals, but none have won three. Richmond superstar Dustin Martin has the chance to do exactly that when he faces off against Geelong in Saturday’s decider.
Sam Landsberger, Gold Coast, News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
Subscriber only
|
October 23, 2020 4:54pm
Close
| FOXSPORTS1:16 Operation stop Dustin Martin |
MORE IN SPORT
‘The Recruit’ cut as Lions slash list
Fantasia picks Port as Crows in limbo on Crouch compo
1 to 44: Every Grand Final player ranked
Dustin Martin the 17-year-old walked on to the Golden Square netball courts.
The cleanskin kid from Castlemaine had arrived at footy training early and decided to warm up with some party tricks.
He had no idea Richmond was watching.
“For 15 minutes I watched Dustin just in front of me – he didn’t know I was there – kicking boomerang goals from the netball court, which was lateral to the footy field,” Tigers recruiter Francis Jackson told the Herald Sun.
“I’d driven up to watch Dustin train – sometimes you can learn a bit watching them train – and I’ll never forget sitting there in the cold at Golden Square.”
Catch Fox Footy’s Grand Final Week coverage on Kayo. Stream all the latest news and insight right up until first bounce plus halftime and full-time analysis from the Fox Footy commentary team. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
In 2009 an early draft choice beckoned for the Tigers after they sacked coach Terry Wallace at two wins and nine losses.
But Jordan McMahon’s goal after the final siren against Melbourne in Round 18 helped gift the Demons a priority pick in a game everyone bar the AFL accepts that the Dees threw.
Melbourne ended up with the first two golden selections in a draft flush for midfielders, and Martin had rattled to the finish line.
BEST BETS: WILL TIGERS MAKE IT THREE FROM FOUR?
RAIN DANCE: WHY TIGERS ARE PRAYING FOR GRAND FINAL DOWNPOUR
In Martin’s final three TAC Cup matches he averaged 153 SuperCoach points and collected 32 disposals each time.
But the Tigers – armed with pick No. 3 – had fallen in love with the future megastar a long time before then and ranked him a clear No.1.
“I remember I saw him play as a bottom-age player and thought, ‘my goodness’,” Jackson said.
“His power and speed was just phenomenal. We were all over him.”
In August that year, the Tigers appointed Hawthorn assistant Damien Hardwick as coach over Geelong’s Ken Hinkley and, about four days before the national draft, their prayers were answered.
“We found out Melbourne were picking (Tom) Scully and (Jack) Trengove, and our recruiting department jumped straight in a car, drove up to Bendigo and organised to meet Dustin,” Jackson said.
“We went and played golf at Eaglehawk.
“Dustin had never played golf before and it was a bit like Happy Gilmore, he basically had a run up.
“We had lots of laughs and then we drove back to the Shamrock Hotel in Bendigo and had lunch with his mum (Kathy) and his grandma (Lois) and told him we were picking him, that we had strong advice Melbourne were taking Trengove and Scully and that Dustin was going to become a Tiger.
“They were delighted at that, and we were delighted with Dustin, because we knew he had attributes that were unique.”
Martin’s boomerangs from the Golden Square netball courts can be traced back to a childhood spent attached to a Sherrin.
His parents converted one of the paddocks at the family farm into football field complete with goalposts.
“Before school in the morning he would go out and have a kick. Then he’d come home from school, drop his bag at the door and he’d be out kicking the football again,” Lois said.
“When he was five he had a football in his hand all the time.
“He’d sleep with it and even go to bed with a St Kilda cap on.”
DUSTY AND I: TIGER PEGGY’S ONE NON-NEGOTIABLE FOR MARTIN
DYNASTY: HOW TIGERS RAIDED THE ROOKIE DRAFT TO BUILD SUCCESS
Martin’s Nan delivered that anecdote to the Herald Sun shortly after he had won his first Norm Smith Medal in 2017, in a week in which Martin also became a premiership player and Brownlow Medallist.
Perhaps he was a touch fortunate in the ’17 Grand Final.
Both Hardwick and Adelaide coach Don Pyke thought Bachar Houli was best-on-ground, as did Wallace, who voted on the medal.
But the AFL world was giddy with “Dusty” fever at the time and it was fitting that he capped one of the best individual seasons ever seen with a trio of medals, having just polled a record 36 Brownlow votes and inked an $8.75 million contract extension.
Last year, it was a different story.
Martin (four goals) was the unanimous choice for a second Norm Smith Medal and, against Geelong on Saturday night, he has the chance to become the game’s first three-time winner of the prestigious award in history.
“Geez, imagine becoming a three-time Norm Smith winner,” said Gary Ayres, the first person to win two.
“Uniqueness and greatness, they’re two words that come to mind.”
Ayres won the medal in 1986 and 1988 and was joined by Andrew McLeod (1997-98), Luke Hodge (2008 and 2014) and then Martin (2017 and 2019) as the only multiple recipients.
Hawthorn heroes Ayres and Hodge both marvelled at Martin’s “elite” consistency.
Ayres, now a VFL coaching legend at Port Melbourne and former Cats and Adelaide coach, said Geelong needed to find someone with size and strength after Martin treated lightweight preliminary final match-up Darcy Byrne-Jones like one of his TAC Cup opponents.
“As an old defender you really want that pressure to be high-octane when the ball is coming in,” Ayres said.
“He’s such a powerful mark and powerful athlete but someone who’s got a little bit more size on Dusty and is just as strong, if not stronger, would be a suggestion from an old ex-coach.”
Jake Kolodashnij looms as the man, although Hodge warned that Martin could burn you twice.
How often does Kane Lambert start forward and spit into the midfield, giving Martin a deadly amount of freedom?
“He’s got some teammates around him that are playing really selfless roles around half-forward who work up for him,” Hodge said.
| HERALDSUN.COM.AU0:56 Tigers captain’s touching gesture to Queensland footy fans |
“He gets to either exploit a midfielder who’s not as strong as him when he sneaks forward, or if he plays forward he can work up the ground and exploit a defender who isn’t as smart around a stoppage.
“Having a bloke who can play mid and forward and do both equally well … it’s a dangerous match-up.”
Hodge won his Norm Smiths two years apart and pocketed his second after his 30th birthday.
It has him thinking Martin won’t be done devouring finals by 10pm at the Gabba.
“For a bloke who’s 29, and if you assess Richmond’s list and where they’re going, I’m tipping he’s going to be playing finals for the next few years,” Hodge said.
“What he could be …. who knows?”
The Age seem to have had more articles with a positive slant for Richmond this week. Here is another from Jake Niall.
Ablett and Dusty: behind the great unknowns
By Jake Niall
October 23, 2020 — 4.22pm
Whatever happens in the first grand final played at night and outside of Victoria and Gary Ablett jnr's last game, Ablett, a dual Brownlow medallist, five-time players' choice as most valuable player and twice a premiership player, is destined to be an official AFL legend.
Whatever happens in this surreal Gabba grand final, Dustin Martin, a two-time Norm Smith medallist, Brownlow medallist, twice a premiership player and finals player nonpareil since 2017, is ascending to a similar station as Ablett, whom teammate Zach Tuohy this week called "a God'' of the game.
Dustin Martin.CREDIT:JUSTIN RIDLER
They are very different men. "Gaz'' is a committed Christian, father, husband and cleanskin who likes only a quiet glass of red, while Dusty lives alone in Port Melbourne, hangs with Dane Swan on American post-season trips, has a hedonistic streak and sports a neck tattoo.
Yet, Dusty is as disciplined as Ablett in his way: ex-Tiger teammate and mentor Matt Thomas, a consummate professional and battler, turned Martin on to a low-carb, higher-protein diet - avocados replacing take-away - and improved training regime in 2014-15. Thomas said that Martin's preferred drink was vodka and sodas, because of ''lower calories''.
Ablett is a son of Geelong and Torquay, a quintessential local hero, who was raised in a smaller goldfish bowl; Martin, while reserved, has a touch of Vegas/Hollywood - Serena Williams is an acquaintance - and plays like the competition's Clint Eastwood: a silent destroyer.
But Ablett and Martin have striking parallels, too, as champions within teams that have built empires, as sons of larger-than-life fathers who found very public trouble, as players who did not unleash the full arsenal of their talents until well into their careers, as players who rose on the back of critical club reviews and transformations and vice-versa.
Above all, they are deeply private champions, who have fenced off the media and public from their inner lives, from traumas and tribulations they have endured.
The fend-off, Dusty's signature move on field, is an apt metaphor for how he handles public attention, as The Age's Greg Baum observed back in 2017.
And they are implacable on field, showing little emotion even after a spectacular goal or passage, low-key and not easily distracted: their focus is the ball, not opponents, not the scoreboard, not the crowd.
"They're low key in everything except in the way they play,'' said Neil Balme, the veteran official at Richmond (since 2016) and Geelong (2006-2014), and one of few football people who's dealt with both Ablett and Martin. Balme famously flew to New Zealand in 2017 to meet Dusty's father Shane, a former bikie, whose visa had been cancelled in 2016 by Peter Dutton, citing his criminal record and links to the Rebels bikie gang. Balme's flight was an entre to signing Martin on a seven-year deal.
Martin seldom does media interviews and isn't comfortable in that forum. Ablett is more engaged and does media duties for his club, but the life that we find most intriguing - the shadow of his famous and troubled father, tragedy of his sister Natasha's death, the challenge of his son Levi's illness that forced him to leave the club's Queensland hub - has been, respectfully, placed out of bounds.
On Monday, Ablett fronted the smattering of footy media who have been transported to Queensland. Polite, smiling and affable, he fielded questions on his last game, future and legacy, but those who were there had been fore-warned - politely - that Gary wouldn't be discussing his family.
Martin and Ablett, in different ways, are unknowable champions, keeping us at bay by different means: Martin deploys the metaphoric fend-off, while Ablett accepts contact, but never gets caught.
Wes Cusworth taught Gary Ablett in year 10 at Christian College in Waurn Ponds, remembering Gary as a talented junior basketballer who loved the NBA and who craved a sporting career. Cusworth, though, never imagined that Ablett jnr, the son of the AFL's most electrifying footballer, would become what he did.
Cusworth, a former journalist, knew Ablett's father from the congregation at the Church of Christ at Manifold Heights. Ablett junior's Christianity was described to me as "evangelical'' but not strictly denominational.
It is telling that Ablett selected Cusworth to ghost Ablett's forthcoming autobiography, which contains, surprisingly, contributions from the now semi-reclusive Mark "Bomber'' Thompson - the coach with whom Ablett had some issues in 2010 when they both exited the Cats - and Ablett snr, along with Joel Selwood, the Geelong skipper.
Gary Ablett.CREDIT:GLENN HUNT
In the book, Ablett addresses some of his private challenges - notably the death of his sister - but does not discuss his son Levi's illness this year (the book was written before he came back to the hub), nor his father's travails, the most troubling of which - the death of 19-year-old Alisha Horan from a drug overdose in Ablett snr's company in 2000 - has meant that the elder Ablett, a clear-cut AFL legend based on his feats, has been withheld that honour.
To those who know Gary Ablett jnr well, his reticence and small circle of trust are completely understandable, and based on a desire to protect his family. But Cusworth does not feel that wearing the Ablett surname - and his Christian name - has weighed as heavily on young Gaz as many of us have assumed.
"I don't think it was that much of a burden for him,'' said Cusworth, who reckoned Ablett was motivated somewhat by "proving people wrong'', adding, "he's his own man.''
As with many great players or athletes, Ablett is meticulous and self-focused - highly aware of his body, diet (organic), sleep and hydration, as his business partner Sean Tobin noted. If he was not a natural leader - Geelong people didn't think him suited to captaincy when he was appointed at Gold Coast - the view of Suns' insiders of that time was that he set standards and worked well in one-on-one situations rather than as leader of the pack, Luke Hodge-style.
But many attest to his generosity, most evident in 2016 when Ablett paid for the funeral of Suns staffer Harley Hollands' wife - Hollands having worked with Ablett in community projects on behalf of the club - and for another staffer to fly to New Zealand to see his family after the birth of a child.
In assessing these generational footballers, one ex-teammate of Ablett observed that both Geelong and then Richmond had transformed how they played when Ablett, then Martin a decade later, vaulted from very good players to the game's best over the course of a summer.
Ablett's well-documented epiphany of 2006 followed 360-degree feedback from teammates - via the Leading Teams program - in which then 22-year-old Gaz was told that he needed to train harder to become his club's Chris Judd.
Geelong of 2006 and Richmond of 2016 had undergone forensic reviews of their under-performing football operations, in which Thompson and Damien Hardwick were retained, but the game styles changed to more direct methods - along with football department bosses; in both cases, Balme was installed.
Martin did not ascend to superstardom until 2017 - coinciding with Richmond's review and Hardwick's change of lieutenants and, critically, of Dusty being redeployed as a forward-of-centre midfielder/forward, where he was weaponised. Richmond's revolution, thus, was as much responsible for Martin's great leap forward as he was for the Tigers'.
To Matt Thomas, imported from Port Adelaide and then encouraged to mentor Dusty, Martin's improvement in professionalism was evident in 2014 and 2015, when the pair would box together after every training session, and Martin began to focus on recovery; today, Thomas says Martin still does visualisation and meditation in the mornings and probably sees a chiropractor twice a week.
If Martin still liked a drink in '14-15, Thomas said "he was more professional with when he did it and how often and it was (more) structured'' - vodka sodas when they went out, not beers. He began to spend more time in recovery at the beach, paying, in Thomas's words, "a lot more respect to his body.'' While quiet, "he always asked a lot of questions. He actually listens.''
These measures meant Martin, so powerful, shed a little weight. Thomas said this improved Dusty's "power to weight ratio'', making him more explosive.
Dusty, 29, has another four further years on his estimated $1.2 million-a-season contract. If he declines, Richmond's seven-year deal has already paid for itself. His skipper and close friend Trent Cotchin said Martin wouldn't care for where others placed him in the AFL world, only for "the respect he has from the people he loves most''.
Ablett's immediate future, post-Saturday night, is unlikely to be in football or media, according to his manager Liam Pickering. The expectation is that he'll turn to his businesses first. Tobin and he have two: Exclusive Insight - an unfiltered platform for athletes based on LeBron James' Uninterrupted - and Active Vacay, which offers 20 souls the chance to train with Gaz in Queensland.
Pickering says Ablett was absolutely serious when he told the Suns that he would retire if he weren't traded back to Geelong, in what was a 50-50 split between family and the wish for a flag. "If they hadn't have traded him, he would have retired.''
For the mercy that a Queensland entity granted Ablett and football , we should all be grateful.
Ablett and Dusty: behind the great unknowns
October 23, 2020 — 4.22pm
Whatever happens in the first grand final played at night and outside of Victoria and Gary Ablett jnr's last game, Ablett, a dual Brownlow medallist, five-time players' choice as most valuable player and twice a premiership player, is destined to be an official AFL legend.
Whatever happens in this surreal Gabba grand final, Dustin Martin, a two-time Norm Smith medallist, Brownlow medallist, twice a premiership player and finals player nonpareil since 2017, is ascending to a similar station as Ablett, whom teammate Zach Tuohy this week called "a God'' of the game.
Dustin Martin.CREDIT:JUSTIN RIDLER
They are very different men. "Gaz'' is a committed Christian, father, husband and cleanskin who likes only a quiet glass of red, while Dusty lives alone in Port Melbourne, hangs with Dane Swan on American post-season trips, has a hedonistic streak and sports a neck tattoo.
Yet, Dusty is as disciplined as Ablett in his way: ex-Tiger teammate and mentor Matt Thomas, a consummate professional and battler, turned Martin on to a low-carb, higher-protein diet - avocados replacing take-away - and improved training regime in 2014-15. Thomas said that Martin's preferred drink was vodka and sodas, because of ''lower calories''.
Ablett is a son of Geelong and Torquay, a quintessential local hero, who was raised in a smaller goldfish bowl; Martin, while reserved, has a touch of Vegas/Hollywood - Serena Williams is an acquaintance - and plays like the competition's Clint Eastwood: a silent destroyer.
But Ablett and Martin have striking parallels, too, as champions within teams that have built empires, as sons of larger-than-life fathers who found very public trouble, as players who did not unleash the full arsenal of their talents until well into their careers, as players who rose on the back of critical club reviews and transformations and vice-versa.
Above all, they are deeply private champions, who have fenced off the media and public from their inner lives, from traumas and tribulations they have endured.
The fend-off, Dusty's signature move on field, is an apt metaphor for how he handles public attention, as The Age's Greg Baum observed back in 2017.
And they are implacable on field, showing little emotion even after a spectacular goal or passage, low-key and not easily distracted: their focus is the ball, not opponents, not the scoreboard, not the crowd.
"They're low key in everything except in the way they play,'' said Neil Balme, the veteran official at Richmond (since 2016) and Geelong (2006-2014), and one of few football people who's dealt with both Ablett and Martin. Balme famously flew to New Zealand in 2017 to meet Dusty's father Shane, a former bikie, whose visa had been cancelled in 2016 by Peter Dutton, citing his criminal record and links to the Rebels bikie gang. Balme's flight was an entre to signing Martin on a seven-year deal.
Martin seldom does media interviews and isn't comfortable in that forum. Ablett is more engaged and does media duties for his club, but the life that we find most intriguing - the shadow of his famous and troubled father, tragedy of his sister Natasha's death, the challenge of his son Levi's illness that forced him to leave the club's Queensland hub - has been, respectfully, placed out of bounds.
On Monday, Ablett fronted the smattering of footy media who have been transported to Queensland. Polite, smiling and affable, he fielded questions on his last game, future and legacy, but those who were there had been fore-warned - politely - that Gary wouldn't be discussing his family.
Martin and Ablett, in different ways, are unknowable champions, keeping us at bay by different means: Martin deploys the metaphoric fend-off, while Ablett accepts contact, but never gets caught.
Wes Cusworth taught Gary Ablett in year 10 at Christian College in Waurn Ponds, remembering Gary as a talented junior basketballer who loved the NBA and who craved a sporting career. Cusworth, though, never imagined that Ablett jnr, the son of the AFL's most electrifying footballer, would become what he did.
Cusworth, a former journalist, knew Ablett's father from the congregation at the Church of Christ at Manifold Heights. Ablett junior's Christianity was described to me as "evangelical'' but not strictly denominational.
It is telling that Ablett selected Cusworth to ghost Ablett's forthcoming autobiography, which contains, surprisingly, contributions from the now semi-reclusive Mark "Bomber'' Thompson - the coach with whom Ablett had some issues in 2010 when they both exited the Cats - and Ablett snr, along with Joel Selwood, the Geelong skipper.
Gary Ablett.CREDIT:GLENN HUNT
In the book, Ablett addresses some of his private challenges - notably the death of his sister - but does not discuss his son Levi's illness this year (the book was written before he came back to the hub), nor his father's travails, the most troubling of which - the death of 19-year-old Alisha Horan from a drug overdose in Ablett snr's company in 2000 - has meant that the elder Ablett, a clear-cut AFL legend based on his feats, has been withheld that honour.
To those who know Gary Ablett jnr well, his reticence and small circle of trust are completely understandable, and based on a desire to protect his family. But Cusworth does not feel that wearing the Ablett surname - and his Christian name - has weighed as heavily on young Gaz as many of us have assumed.
"I don't think it was that much of a burden for him,'' said Cusworth, who reckoned Ablett was motivated somewhat by "proving people wrong'', adding, "he's his own man.''
As with many great players or athletes, Ablett is meticulous and self-focused - highly aware of his body, diet (organic), sleep and hydration, as his business partner Sean Tobin noted. If he was not a natural leader - Geelong people didn't think him suited to captaincy when he was appointed at Gold Coast - the view of Suns' insiders of that time was that he set standards and worked well in one-on-one situations rather than as leader of the pack, Luke Hodge-style.
But many attest to his generosity, most evident in 2016 when Ablett paid for the funeral of Suns staffer Harley Hollands' wife - Hollands having worked with Ablett in community projects on behalf of the club - and for another staffer to fly to New Zealand to see his family after the birth of a child.
In assessing these generational footballers, one ex-teammate of Ablett observed that both Geelong and then Richmond had transformed how they played when Ablett, then Martin a decade later, vaulted from very good players to the game's best over the course of a summer.
Ablett's well-documented epiphany of 2006 followed 360-degree feedback from teammates - via the Leading Teams program - in which then 22-year-old Gaz was told that he needed to train harder to become his club's Chris Judd.
Geelong of 2006 and Richmond of 2016 had undergone forensic reviews of their under-performing football operations, in which Thompson and Damien Hardwick were retained, but the game styles changed to more direct methods - along with football department bosses; in both cases, Balme was installed.
Martin did not ascend to superstardom until 2017 - coinciding with Richmond's review and Hardwick's change of lieutenants and, critically, of Dusty being redeployed as a forward-of-centre midfielder/forward, where he was weaponised. Richmond's revolution, thus, was as much responsible for Martin's great leap forward as he was for the Tigers'.
To Matt Thomas, imported from Port Adelaide and then encouraged to mentor Dusty, Martin's improvement in professionalism was evident in 2014 and 2015, when the pair would box together after every training session, and Martin began to focus on recovery; today, Thomas says Martin still does visualisation and meditation in the mornings and probably sees a chiropractor twice a week.
If Martin still liked a drink in '14-15, Thomas said "he was more professional with when he did it and how often and it was (more) structured'' - vodka sodas when they went out, not beers. He began to spend more time in recovery at the beach, paying, in Thomas's words, "a lot more respect to his body.'' While quiet, "he always asked a lot of questions. He actually listens.''
These measures meant Martin, so powerful, shed a little weight. Thomas said this improved Dusty's "power to weight ratio'', making him more explosive.
Dusty, 29, has another four further years on his estimated $1.2 million-a-season contract. If he declines, Richmond's seven-year deal has already paid for itself. His skipper and close friend Trent Cotchin said Martin wouldn't care for where others placed him in the AFL world, only for "the respect he has from the people he loves most''.
Ablett's immediate future, post-Saturday night, is unlikely to be in football or media, according to his manager Liam Pickering. The expectation is that he'll turn to his businesses first. Tobin and he have two: Exclusive Insight - an unfiltered platform for athletes based on LeBron James' Uninterrupted - and Active Vacay, which offers 20 souls the chance to train with Gaz in Queensland.
Pickering says Ablett was absolutely serious when he told the Suns that he would retire if he weren't traded back to Geelong, in what was a 50-50 split between family and the wish for a flag. "If they hadn't have traded him, he would have retired.''
For the mercy that a Queensland entity granted Ablett and football , we should all be grateful.
He has to be the GOAT
Muddiemoose
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He’s ****ed
Love him
Love him
prodigy
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