‘No one does that’: Ridiculous Dustin Martin kick that left Fox Footy commentators in awe
Nick Riewoldt and Garry Lyon have played in – and watched – a lot of footy matches over the years. But when Dustin Martin pulled off such a ridiculous kick like he did against Brisbane, the Fox Footy duo were left collectively breathless.
The Richmond superstar produced arguably another best-on-ground performance on Tuesday night, finishing with 24 disposals, four clearances and nine inside 50s.
And the best of those inside 50 entries, which came during the dying stages of the third term, proved Martin is back to his menacing best.
Sprinting along the left wing boundary line with a Lions opponent closing, Martin had to dispose of the ball promptly.
The natural tendency would’ve been to use his non-preferred left foot or simply bomb the ball forward. Instead, Martin calmly assessed his options and used the outside of his right boot to pull off a superb drop punt pass to Jack Higgins inside 50.
Considering the AFL speed and intensity, the degree of difficulty was very high. Yet one of the game’s best players pulled it off.
“You can talk about footy all you like and have your debates and your arguments, but no one does that. No one does that like Dusty,” Lyon told Fox Footy.
“You might get (Bulldog) Caleb Daniel to do it a little bit and go 15m, but that’s what separates him.
“Every time Dustin gets it, you’re a legitimate scoring chance.”
Nick Riewoldt said it’s still “amazing just to be able to sit down and watch him play a full game of footy”.
“You still have moments where it just takes your breath away. That kick on the outside of the foot – he just does stuff other players can’t do,” Riewoldt told Fox Footy.
As part of his transformation into one of the great players of the modern era, Martin has become a “maximum damage” player, according to Riewoldt.
It was only four years ago that Martin was averaging 31.1 disposals a game yet was widely criticised for quantity over quality. In 2020, Martin is all quality.
Of Martin’s 24 disposals against Brisbane, 10 of them led to scores. He’s ranked in the top 10 for score involvements per game.
Despite averaging just 20.5 disposals per outing in 2020, the 29-year-old’s influence on matches has seemingly never been greater, according to Lyon.
“There’s no one quite like Dustin Martin in the competition. We’re not telling anyone anything they don’t know, but we got further evidence of it (against Brisbane),” Lyon said.
“When he gets it, his ability to go to different parts of the ground is almost unsurpassed and to go to it in a manner that is almost always to the benefit of Richmond.
“Other players are limited in their ability to kick distance or length or power. But he has got the lot, this bloke.”
Martin also had a game-high and personal season-best 604m gained against Brisbane after gaining 430 and 506m in his previous two outings against the Bulldogs and Giants respectively.
The Brownlow Medallist is also ranked second in the league for average inside 50s per match (4.9).
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick lauded Martin’s ability to have a greater impact on games while having less disposals than previous seasons.
“That’s what good players do,” Hardwick told reporters post-game.
“Metres gained is really important to us in the way he plays. He just puts players in space – that’s what the really great players do and I thought he did that pretty well (on Tuesday night).
“We probably could have used a little bit of his class across the arc at various stages a little bit more. But once again, his last month has been pretty good from a form point of view.”
Martin’s output has undoubtedly increased over his past four games, booting seven goals and averaging 22.3 disposals, 10.8 contested possessions, 7.3 inside 50s, 4.8 clearances, 8.3 score involvements and 125.8 Champion Data Ranking points.
“I think his movement we’ve seen in the last fortnight has been a key around stoppages,” triple premiership player Jonathan Brown told Fox Footy.
“Clearly he was hampered early in the year, because his movement and his want to take the hits and movement around the stoppage (in recent games) – that tells me a healthy player.”
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