Media articles & stats: Dustin Martin stars as Port suffers a Power outage

[one-eyed]

Dustin Martin stars as Port suffers a Power outage

Jennifer Phelan 
afl.com.au
March 14, 2015 6:55 PM


DAMIEN Hardwick warned the competition that ‘Dustin Martin The Midfielder’ would be launched in 2015.

On Saturday, the football world got its first look at how devastating the move of the 23-year-old into the centre could be.

As Richmond cruised to a 66-point shellacking of a dramatically undermanned Port Adelaide side at Lavington Sports Ground in Albury, Martin was the standout.

He had 27 touches and won seven clearances after starting in the centre circle, burst through packs, fended off opponents and still found time to provide a presence up forward.

It was the highlight of an otherwise uninspiring affair, with the young Power outfit overwhelmed by a nearly full-strength Tiger line-up, captained by Brett Deledio.

Four goals to small forward Sam Lloyd, who played eight games in his first season last year, was another positive in the lopsided contest.

The early scenes were reminiscent of last year's elimination final between the two teams, except it was the Tigers directing one-way traffic this time and the Power left to work out how to stop the flood.

With Shane Edwards, Shaun Grigg and Deledio starting well and Ivan Maric dominating Jarrad Redden in the ruck, the Tigers raced to a 38-0 lead by quarter-time.

So comprehensive was the Tigers' dominance that the Power's first score – a rushed behind seven minutes into the second term – was met with jeers from the pro-Richmond crowd.

Port’s first goal, which went to Aaron Young 10 minutes later, received the same treatment.

With the exception of Trent Cotchin, who is expected to return from hamstring soreness in the coming weeks, the Tigers had their top 10 placegetters from last year's best and fairest count on the field.

The Power had none of theirs.

Captain Travis Boak, Robbie Gray, Justin Westhoff, Jay Schulz, Brad Ebert and Alipate Carlile didn't make the trip, and Ollie Wines, Matthew Lobbe and Tom Jonas were pulled out when the squad was trimmed just before the bounce.

Defender Jarman Impey also didn't play after developing hamstring soreness overnight.

Matthew Broadbent captained and was one of their better players, along with Kane Mitchell and Paul Stewart while Nathan Krakouer got his hands on the ball 10 times across half back and tried to get them going.

But a young forward line, built around The Recruit’s Johann Wagner and another first-gamer in Jesse Palmer, struggled to match the likes of Troy Chaplin and Alex Rance.

The Tigers' pressure across the ground was excellent in the first half as they monstered the young Power side and they easily found targets.

They handed Jack Riewoldt and Ivan Maric the red vests at three-quarter time and the sting went out of the game late, with Port managing three goals in the fourth term.

Riewoldt took four marks and kicked one goal, appearing almost too unselfish at times when he turned the ball over trying to find a teammate rather than taking a shot at goal himself.

WHAT WE LEARNED

Richmond:
Their backline looks good and they've got reserves with David Astbury yet to appear this pre-season and Matt Dea another option. A fit Ivan Maric is a massive bonus for the Tigers after he missed nearly all of last pre-season and Sam Lloyd looks to be nudging ahead in the race to fill the role across half forward. It also looks like the Tigers are going to persevere with Steve Morris in attack, although he didn't have a huge game, and Ben Lennon is also spending more time forward of the ball. 

Port Adelaide:
Port's young forwards are a bit away yet. They left their A-team in Adelaide and it showed, with the team taking just 11 marks inside 50 to the Tigers' 18 – the majority of which came in the last quarter. They were a shadow of the team that thumped Richmond six months ago with just too many players out and a bunch of new faces in. Ruckman Jarrad Redden, who last played in round 10, 2013, got through the game and ended it with a goal, and showed signs he can be important for the Power this year if he stays fit.   

NEW FACES

Richmond:
There were no new faces for the Tigers after they played eight against the Western Bulldogs two weeks ago, but Kane Lambert looked good in his second game with 12 disposals and Taylor Hunt had 19.

Port Adelaide:
There was plenty of interest in how the winner of reality show The Recruit Johann Wagner would go in his first competitive hit-out, but he didn't have many opportunities to touch the ball given it was mainly down the other end. Wagner had Troy Chaplin, Alex Rance and Dylan Grimes for opponents when he was stationed at full forward, and took one nice mark on the lead after Rance turned it over but missed everything with his set shot. It was also a tough afternoon for Jesse Palmer and Dougal Howard, who joined Wagner in the forward line and were faced with pretty much the Tigers' best back set up. Sam Russell came on at three-quarter time and didn't touch the ball but laid four tackles.


RICHMOND                 0.6.2   1.8.5    1.11.9    1.14.10 (103)
PORT ADELAIDE       0.0.0    0.1.1    0.2.2      0.5.7 (37)

SUPERGOALS
Richmond: Lennon
Port Adelaide: Nil

GOALS
Richmond: Lloyd 4, Edwards 2, Ellis, Hunt, Lennon, Lambert, Gordon, Riewoldt, Vickery, Batchelor
Port Adelaide: Young 2, Clurey, Broadbent, Redden

BEST
Richmond: Martin, Houli, Lloyd, Grigg, Chaplin, Edwards, Deledio
Port Adelaide: Mitchell, Broadbent, Clurey, Polec, Young

INJURIES
Richmond: Nil
Port Adelaide: Impey (hamstring soreness – pulled out before the game)

SUBSTITUTES
Richmond: Jack Riewoldt and Ivan Maric subbed out at three-quarter time for Todd Elton and Liam McBean.
Port Adelaide: Jasper Pittard subbed out at three-quarter time for Sam Russell.

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Nicholls, Kamolins, Edwards, Mollison

Official crowd: 8451 at Lavington Sports Ground

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-03-14/match-report-tigers-v-port

[🏅Dooks]

Martin in the midfield, who would have thought. I was hoping they would continue to play him in defence like this time last year

[Chuck17]

Martin in the midfield, who would have thought. I was hoping they would continue to play him in defence like this time last year

Exactly how long can the RFC keep passing up opportunities to groom Dusty as Rances replacement

Incompetence at the highest level

Stuff

[Francois Jackson]

Dusty 51/1 for charlie. Coming down each week. 81/1 on bet365 still

who is jumping on?

[one-eyed]

NAB Challenge: Richmond defeats Port Adelaide by 66 points in Albury

  Jay Clark
    Herald-Sun
    March 15, 2015


DUSTIN Martin began his off-season enjoying the life in Los Angeles.

But if no one at Tigerland seemed concerned about Martin and Dane Swan’s appearance at a string of party hot-spots in October, on Saturday it became clear why.

The brilliant ball-winner backed up the whispers emanating out of Punt Rd over summer that he is ready to blossom into a bona fide superstar this season, making his $67 Brownlow odds look a tad generous.

After a few years floating in and out of the middle, Martin played almost entirely as an onballer yesterday as he led the Tigers to a 66-point demolition of Port Adelaide in Lavington.

To be fair to Port, they looked more like a SANFL side than a premiership fancy, with about 16 of their best 22 resting up for next Saturday’s Showdown against Adelaide.

Still, the contest will serve as a nice confidence booster for the Tigers as they prepare to welcome back captain Trent Cotchin in time for their blockbuster season-opener against Carlton.

Martin, 23, finished with 27 possessions, seven clearances and four tackles and looked unstoppable zig-zagging across the ground with bullet passes.

He provided one of the highlights of the contest when he delivered a brutal ‘don’t argue’ on Jasper Pittard and hit Riewoldt, who marked courageously floating back on the goal line.

Riewoldt also looked in the shape of his life and was the dominant forward early, although he also marched into the centre square at one point, not unlike Hawthorn’s Jarryd Roughead.

Tiger forward Sam Lloyd took his chances with four goals, mature-age pickup Kane Lambert kicked a clever early goal and Brett Deledio emerged unscathed in his battle with a sore achilles.

But it was all over by quarter time as the Tigers led by 38 points at the first change, putting behind them memories of the thrashing Richmond received from Port in last year’s elimination final.

Without all the key cogs of Port Adelaide’s superstar midfield, including Ollie Wines, Travis Boak, Kane Cornes and Robbie Gray, Nathan Krakouer took the chance to impress again playing of half back.

Given a third chance at the Power, Krakouer showed the speed and polish makes him look ready to re-enter the AFL fray, possibly from Round 1.

Kane Mitchell and Jared Polec led the Port midfield as Pittard and Broadbent were often left to try and repel the Tiger advances from defence, while Aaron Young bobbed up with two late goals.

But Port coach Ken Hinkley might write this one off completely.

His counterpart Damien Hardwick will have some selection headaches heading into the final NAB Challenge game against North Melbourne on Saturday.

The midfield looks solid again, with Grigg, Bachar Houli, Shane Edwards, Brandon Ellis, Reece Conca and new addition Taylor Hunt, all helping maintain constant forward supply.

http://www.news.com.au/national/nab-challenge-richmond-defeats-port-adelaide-by-66-points-in-albury/story-e6frfkp9-1227262412240

[one-eyed]

Tigers maul undermanned Port Adelaide

Daniel Cherny
  The Age
 March 15, 2015


RICHMOND         0.6.2  1.8.5   1.11.9   1.14.10 (103)
PORT ADELAIDE 0.0.0   0.1.1   0.2.2         5.7 (37)

Best:
Richmond: Martin, Edwards, Houli, Ellis, Grigg, Lloyd, Chaplin, Maric, Riewoldt.
Port Adelaide: Mitchell, Polec, Broadbent, Stewart, Young, Moore

Supergoals:
Richmond: Lennon

Goals:
Richmond: Lloyd 4, Edwards 2, Gordon, Vickery, Riewoldt, Hunt, Lennon, Edwards, Gordon, Batchelor.
Port Adelaide: Young 2 Clurey, Broadbent, Redden

Crowd: 8451 at Lavington Sports Ground.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Albury: It is each club's prerogative to prepare their players for the premiership season as best they deem fit within the confines of the AFL's practice-match schedule. Teams may wish to  intersperse their senior and junior players throughout each week of the series. Alternatively, they may choose to play a full-strength team one week, and essentially a reserves team another.

Those two extremes came to a strange head in Lavington on Saturday. On a brilliant early autumn day, Richmond's stars began what they hope will be a march into September, thrashing a severely depleted Port Adelaide by 66 points. More importantly, many of the the Tigers' elite players put in impressive performances.

A fortnight ago, Richmond had rested the top nine votegetters from their best-and-fairest count last year. On Saturday, all but captain Trent Cotchin were back.

 Last Sunday Port Adelaide  had played a near full-strength team against West Coast. For the trip to the NSW-Victoria border, they were without 14 members of the team that punished the Tigers in last year's elimination final, as well as provisionally suspended recruit Paddy Ryder.

It meant for Richmond that this game had next to no use as a means of assessing any ground made on the Power since that Father's Day final, and that Port was extremely unlikely to replicate the upset of Zimbabwe when they knocked off England at this venue the last time the Cricket World Cup was held in these parts.

The Tigers' guns were allowed to flourish. Dustin Martin was dynamic and had a stack of the football. Jack Riewoldt, though at times profligate, marked well and tackled ferociously. Brett Deledio  showed no sign of his ongoing Achilles trouble, while Ivan Maric and Brandon Ellis both impressed.

The early signs for Port were ominous as mature-age Tiger rookie Kane Lambert slotted the game's first, and within 10 minutes his side led 4.2.26 to nothing.

Riewoldt drew applause when he won a holding-the-ball free  early in the first quarter. The spearhead duly booted the ball into the carpark.

 His longstanding foil Ty Vickery popped one through soon after and it was six goals to nil in Richmond's favour. The hilly surrounds were pretty, but this was getting ugly for Port.

Even ruckman Maric was running down blokes from behind, a strong tackle on callow Power tall Mitch Harvey rousing the crowd late in the first.

On elimination final day last year Port  scored the first 43 points of the game. When Ellis kicked Richmond's first of the second quarter on Saturday, the Tigers had the day's first 46.

 Mercifully the Power were on the board a couple of minutes later as Maric guided through a rushed behind.

Emerging Richmond teenager Ben Lennon's running shot was shepherded through by Riewoldt at the 11 minute-mark of the second quarter for a supergoal.

Soon after Martin fended off an opponent in typical style, and latched onto Riewoldt, who marked on the goal line.

 But not for the only time during the game, the Tasmanian's selflessness proved his undoing. He tried unsuccessfully to find a teammate in a better spot, and Port raced down the other end. Aaron Young kicked their first. It had taken until the 17-minute mark of the second quarter.

However Taylor Hunt provided the answering goal within five minutes, and the Tigers had a 55-point buffer at the long break.

Sam Lloyd — now donning the No. 27 jumper — snapped truly from 25 to open Richmond's account after half-time. As the contest petered away, the small forward would snag three for the half, making an imprint that could force him into Damien Hardwick's team for the season opener on April 2.

For the Power, stand-in captain Matthew Broadbent, midfielders Kane Mitchell and Jared Polec, and utility Paul Stewart were all solid. Reality TV series winner Johann Wagner provided a colourful sidebar, but toiled without reward against All-Australian Alex Rance, spraying a set shot in the third quarter out of bounds on the full. It proved to be his best chance.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/tigers-maul-undermanned-port-adelaide-20150314-1443xc.html