Retiring Dustin Martin - retiring effective immediately 2024

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It may have been posted already but these stats show just how good he was at his best and in big games

  • 69 times he had 20+ disposals and 2+ goals. That is 10 times more than any other player over the last 15 years. Gary Ablett is next on 59 and Patrick Dangerfield on 58. That’s a significant gap with two walk-up Hall of Famers.
  • The broken tackle stat started the year Dusty came into the competition. He’s had 377 broken tackles over a 15-year campaign. The next most is Jack Viney on 213. That’s 164 more than any other player.
  • He’s won 49 per cent of one on one contests. The next highest player is 42 per cent being Nat Fyfe, then Dangerfield at 41. It is outrageous how much better a one on one player he has been over a 15-year career. The average is 25 per cent.
  • Then you look at what he does when he’s been a target inside forward 50. When Richmond have gone to him, they’ve scored a goal 30 per cent of the time. No other player has done that in 15 years. He’s been the best forward 50 target in 15 years. The average is around about 18 per cent.
  • Our AFL Player Ratings ironically started the year Dusty came in. He was the No.1 rated player on the ground for five consecutive matches from the 2020 finals series into 2021. Only Dangerfield has done that for five consecutive matches.
  • His 2017 Grand Final is the second highest rated Grand Final of all-time. Luke Shuey’s 2018 Grand Final is miles ahead of anyone else, Dusty comes in at No.2. The rating was 30. If you get a 15 rated game, that’s an All-Australian type game. If you get a 20, it’s wow. If you get a 30 then you just go back and watch that performance over and over and over.
  • His 2020 Grand Final comes up as the sixth best Grand Final. Keep in mind that is with shortened quarters. If you extrapolate that out to a full game then it comes out as the second best Grand Final as a 32 rated game.
  • His 2019 Grand Final comes out as the 12th best Grand Final.
  • Overall he has been the No.1 rated player on the ground six times from 16 finals. No other player has done that.

Dusty’s Finals Ratings

  • His ratings in the 12 finals between 2017 and 2020 where Dusty was in his prime. He had one poor final out of 12 and that was the night when he couldn’t walk against Collingwood in the 2018 Prelim where they admitted afterwards that he probably shouldn’t have played.
  • His Qualifying Final in 2017 he was 2nd highest. Prelim in 2017 against GWS he was 6th. Grand Final in 2017 he was No.1.
  • 2018 Qualifying Final he was 1. 2018 Prelim, throw that in the bin.
  • 2019 Qualifying Final he kicked six goals against Brisbane, 3rd highest player. 2019 Prelim against Geelong he was 11th. Grand Final day he was No.1.
  • 2020 Qualifying Final against Brisbane, they lost, he was 9th. This is the best - they’re in a bit of trouble, they’ve lost their first final, he wakes up and goes No.1 in the Semi, No.1 in the Prelim and No.1 in the Grand Final. He went whack, whack, whack and brought home a flag.
  • The 20-plus rating which is the wow factor, he has done that eight times in finals. The next most is five - Josh Kennedy, Joel Selwood and Dangerfield. He’s miles ahead.
  • The three years they won a flag in 2017, 2019 & 2020 - in each of those Prelims and each of those Grand Finals, he’s had 20+ disposals and 2+ goals.
 

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NameAblett JnrJuddFyfeDangerfiedNealeBontempelliPendleburyMartin
Games357279237332265236401302
Goals445228176331124228202338
Total Average Possessions per Game24.9222.8724.123.4827.3723.9225.5924.24
Total Average Goals per Game1.240.810.740.990.460.960.51.11
Average Possessions per Game (Home & Away)25.0822.8224.0723.4227.5523.9625.7324.36
Average Goals per Game (Home & Away)1.280.820.741.080.440.960.51.08
Average Possessions per Game (Finals)22.7623.5924.7324.0825.0523.0823.9722
Average Goals per Game (Finals)0.80.640.630.920.360.910.291.68
Total Goal Assists (average)261 (0.73)208 (0.74)131 (0.55)236 (0.70)131 (0.49)194 (0.81)299 (0.74)221 (0.73)
Goal Assists - Home & Away (average)248 (0.74)198 (0.75)126 (0.55)219 (0.71)126 (0.51)183 (0.81)284 (0.70)203 (0.70)
Goal Assists - Finals (average)13 (0.52)10 (0.58)4 (0.36)17 (0.65)5 (0.26)11 (0.91)15 (0.48)18 (1.12)
Seasons1914151713111915
Average Goals per Season23.4216.2811.7319.529.6120.7210.5722.53
Most Goals in a Season4429244516312437
Brownlow Medal Votes262210187248187169221212
Average Brownlow Votes per Game0.730.750.780.740.70.710.540.7
Most Brownlow Votes in a Season 3030333531332436
Club Leading Goal Kicker30000100
Club Best & Fairest65345552
Brownlow Medal22212001
All Australian86383564
AFLMVP (Leigh Matthews Trophy)52211201
AFLCA Champion Player of the Year30011111
AFLCA Player of the Finals (Gary Ayres Award)00010003
Norm Smith Medal01000013
Premierships 21010123
Gary Ayres Award first awarded in 2016
 
NameAblett JnrJuddFyfeDangerfiedNealeBontempelliPendleburyMartin
Games357279237332265236401302
Goals445228176331124228202338
Total Average Possessions per Game24.9222.8724.123.4827.3723.9225.5924.24
Total Average Goals per Game1.240.810.740.990.460.960.51.11
Average Possessions per Game (Home & Away)25.0822.8224.0723.4227.5523.9625.7324.36
Average Goals per Game (Home & Away)1.280.820.741.080.440.960.51.08
Average Possessions per Game (Finals)22.7623.5924.7324.0825.0523.0823.9722
Average Goals per Game (Finals)0.80.640.630.920.360.910.291.68
Total Goal Assists (average)261 (0.73)208 (0.74)131 (0.55)236 (0.70)131 (0.49)194 (0.81)299 (0.74)221 (0.73)
Goal Assists - Home & Away (average)248 (0.74)198 (0.75)126 (0.55)219 (0.71)126 (0.51)183 (0.81)284 (0.70)203 (0.70)
Goal Assists - Finals (average)13 (0.52)10 (0.58)4 (0.36)17 (0.65)5 (0.26)11 (0.91)15 (0.48)18 (1.12)
Seasons1914151713111915
Average Goals per Season23.4216.2811.7319.529.6120.7210.5722.53
Most Goals in a Season4429244516312437
Brownlow Medal Votes262210187248187169221212
Average Brownlow Votes per Game0.730.750.780.740.70.710.540.7
Most Brownlow Votes in a Season3030333531332436
Club Leading Goal Kicker30000100
Club Best & Fairest65345552
Brownlow Medal22212001
All Australian86383564
AFLMVP (Leigh Matthews Trophy)52211201
AFLCA Champion Player of the Year30011111
AFLCA Player of the Finals (Gary Ayres Award)00010003
Norm Smith Medal01000013
Premierships21010123
Gary Ayres Award first awarded in 2016
Martin - champion that he has been - will have his averages protected compared to some by retiring at a younger age. Ablett, Dangerfield and Pendlebury are the main ones of note.

If he played another 3 years there's a good chance he would receive 5 or less Brownlow votes.

He is already down to 1.39 combined goals/assists and 17.4 disposals per game compared to 2.00 and 23.6 in 2023. If he'd played on 2025-2026 maybe that drops down to 0.9 and 13.0 for example.

He has made the right call on retiring now because his games this season shown what the cliff would've been like if he tried to go any longer.

As for goals/assists in finals it's pointless to compare a forward/mid to a pure midfielder. They're different roles. It's more accurate to compare to like for like players such as Steve Johnson - he would come out on top and it more importantly it would be a comparison of relevance.

However it's important to note Johnson played many more finals spread out over non peak years and in non dominant sides compared to Martin. Almost all of Martin's finals are clustered into his peak 4 year period when his side was also a dominant dynasty one. He didn't play 10+ finals in his 30s for example. Or any as a junior. Then only 3 when he was in the early to mid 20s range.
 
Martin - champion that he has been - will have his averages protected compared to some by retiring at a younger age. Ablett, Dangerfield and Pendlebury are the main ones of note.

If he played another 3 years there's a good chance he would receive 5 or less Brownlow votes.

He is already down to 1.39 combined goals/assists and 17.4 disposals per game compared to 2.00 and 23.6 in 2023. If he'd played on 2025-2026 maybe that drops down to 0.9 and 13.0 for example.

He has made the right call on retiring now because his games this season shown what the cliff would've been like if he tried to go any longer.

As for goals/assists in finals it's pointless to compare a forward/mid to a pure midfielder. They're different roles. It's more accurate to compare to like for like players such as Steve Johnson - he would come out on top and it more importantly it would be a comparison of relevance.

However it's important to note Johnson played many more finals spread out over non peak years and in non dominant sides compared to Martin. Almost all of Martin's finals are clustered into his peak 4 year period when his side was also a dominant dynasty one. He didn't play 10+ finals in his 30s for example. Or any as a junior. Then only 3 when he was in the early to mid 20s range.

You can compare goals/assists when the disposals are about the same. If Dusty was getting those goals but having 10-15 disposal average you could say he just spent significantly more time spent forward and didn’t have much impact on the midfield.

However in this case the midfield performance is about the same sacrificing only 1-2 less disposals for 2-6 times the amount of goals in finals. That’s insane and significantly better no matter how you slice it. That’s why people say he’s the best big game/finals player ever. GAJ for example didn’t elevate his game in finals compared to his (albeit high standards) in H&A in fact the were worse like everybody else. That’s natural because it’s finals. Dusty is the opposite which is what makes Dustys record so rare.
 
Martin - champion that he has been - will have his averages protected compared to some by retiring at a younger age. Ablett, Dangerfield and Pendlebury are the main ones of note.

If he played another 3 years there's a good chance he would receive 5 or less Brownlow votes.

He is already down to 1.39 combined goals/assists and 17.4 disposals per game compared to 2.00 and 23.6 in 2023. If he'd played on 2025-2026 maybe that drops down to 0.9 and 13.0 for example.

He has made the right call on retiring now because his games this season shown what the cliff would've been like if he tried to go any longer.

As for goals/assists in finals it's pointless to compare a forward/mid to a pure midfielder. They're different roles. It's more accurate to compare to like for like players such as Steve Johnson - he would come out on top and it more importantly it would be a comparison of relevance.

However it's important to note Johnson played many more finals spread out over non peak years and in non dominant sides compared to Martin. Almost all of Martin's finals are clustered into his peak 4 year period when his side was also a dominant dynasty one. He didn't play 10+ finals in his 30s for example. Or any as a junior. Then only 3 when he was in the early to mid 20s range.
Player retires at 33 years of age, after 302 games and 15 seasons... but the commentary now is protecting averages. FMD.

He was AA squad less than 12 months ago. More than physically through I think he is mentally through, and with commentary like this who could blame him. I guess a victim of his own high standards.
 
Martin - champion that he has been - will have his averages protected compared to some by retiring at a younger age. Ablett, Dangerfield and Pendlebury are the main ones of note.

If he played another 3 years there's a good chance he would receive 5 or less Brownlow votes.

He is already down to 1.39 combined goals/assists and 17.4 disposals per game compared to 2.00 and 23.6 in 2023. If he'd played on 2025-2026 maybe that drops down to 0.9 and 13.0 for example.

He has made the right call on retiring now because his games this season shown what the cliff would've been like if he tried to go any longer.

As for goals/assists in finals it's pointless to compare a forward/mid to a pure midfielder. They're different roles. It's more accurate to compare to like for like players such as Steve Johnson - he would come out on top and it more importantly it would be a comparison of relevance.

However it's important to note Johnson played many more finals spread out over non peak years and in non dominant sides compared to Martin. Almost all of Martin's finals are clustered into his peak 4 year period when his side was also a dominant dynasty one. He didn't play 10+ finals in his 30s for example. Or any as a junior. Then only 3 when he was in the early to mid 20s range.

Gun players play finals throughout their prime all the time. Show one who came near to doing what Dustin Martin did.

What they did at other times in their careers is a claret herring. Just compare their prime aged finals with Dusty's.
 
Just compare their prime years in finals then to be fair. Coincidently it’s the same amount of years for these two:

Dusty 17-20

GAJ 07-10

etc

You’ll find Dusty smashes them all
You can only do so if you are saying "who has had the hottest 4 year run in a dynasty side" then. And even then you are comparing forward/mids with pure mids.

If you want to say "who was the undisputed greatest finals performer ever" then you'd have to find who had elite finals in periods that were not just 26-29 years old. Find me one.Unfortunately Richmond were not good enough to even get him many finals in those periods, much like Gold Coast couldn't get any for Ablett 2011-2014 when he was better than he was 2007-2010. Ablett had a lot of finals as a youngester, and then many finals as a player Martin's current age or older.

The difference for 4 of the years Ablett missed finals is that this is when he was the best player in the league. For Martin 2010-2016 and 2021-2024 he was not in the top 30 players in the league on average.
 
You can only do so if you are saying "who has had the hottest 4 year run in a dynasty side" then. And even then you are comparing forward/mids with pure mids.

If you want to say "who was the undisputed greatest finals performer ever" then you'd have to find who had elite finals in periods that were not just 26-29 years old. Find me one.Unfortunately Richmond were not good enough to even get him many finals in those periods, much like Gold Coast couldn't for Ablett 2011-2014 when he was better than he was 2007-2010. The difference is for Ablett this is when he was the best player in the league. For Martin 2010-2016 and 2021-2024 he was not in the top 30 players in the league on average.

16 finals, that's still a fair few finals matches for a player to play in and to have an impact and he certainly did that in my opinion.
 
Maybe the poster was highlighting the impact Martin had, especially in front of goal?
Yeah he was lethal in front of goal as a forward/mid destroyer. It doesn't change the fact that goal/assist averages from the time are apples for oranges comparisons with pure stoppage midfielders. Someone like Steve Johnson 2007-2011 is a far more appropriate comparison. Martin would still come out on top and you would have a relevant set of players to compare.
 
16 finals, that's still a fair few finals matches for a player to play in and to have an impact and he certainly did that in my opinion.
How many finals in Martin's peak 4 year period (that was miles above any other period of his career - look at coaches votes if you don't believe me) and how many in the other 11 years? Run the same analysis on the other players in your table and you'll notice the difference.

Then also find the finals in non premiership seasons - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2022. Run the same analysis and you'll find the averages are much lower.

Two important factors to consider when running comparisons. Still an absolute champion nonetheless. You were the one who came in with the fancy tables.
 
You can only do so if you are saying "who has had the hottest 4 year run in a dynasty side" then. And even then you are comparing forward/mids with pure mids.

If you want to say "who was the undisputed greatest finals performer ever" then you'd have to find who had elite finals in periods that were not just 26-29 years old. Find me one.Unfortunately Richmond were not good enough to even get him many finals in those periods, much like Gold Coast couldn't get any for Ablett 2011-2014 when he was better than he was 2007-2010. Ablett had a lot of finals as a youngester, and then many finals as a player Martin's current age or older.

The difference for 4 of the years Ablett missed finals is that this is when he was the best player in the league. For Martin 2010-2016 and 2021-2024 he was not in the top 30 players in the league on average.

His achievements in the 4 year stretch are what make him the best. Elite players that have played 30-40 finals matches and even 6+ GFs couldn’t match it. Let that sink in.
 

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Congratulations on a wonderful playing career dusty Martin

He won many individual rewards but the 2017, 2019 and 2020 premiership medals were the main ones.

It was a slow development phase from 2010-12.

Then you had the 2013-15 Elim finals. Richmond should at least won 1 of them.

The watershed moment was the end of 2016 season. Decisions were made.

Dustin Martin like most of his teammates played their best footy from 2017-20. 4 preliminary finals 3 of those were wins in 2017, 19 and 2020. All 3 were grand final wins.

Some players were fading or struggling after 2021. But that's normal with the AFL. You can't stay on top forever.

The only minor blemish was not winning a final in either 2013 vs Carlton or 2015 vs North Melbourne. I would of loved guys like Tyrone Vickery, Reece Conca and Brett Delideo get a finals win before they all left by 2016 or 2017.

Saying that, those years of suffering from 1983-2016 made up for 2017-20.
 

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Retiring Dustin Martin - retiring effective immediately 2024

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