Dusty's spring fieldMichael Gleeson
The Age
7 September 2019Dusty Martin has played one poor final. It was his last one, and he was injured.
The fact that ordinarily he is anything but ordinary in September would be reason to think that this again will be Dusty’s time. That he didn’t do well last time is the even more compelling reason to think this will be Dusty’s month.
What drives Dusty Martin, and what makes him the player who perhaps threatens to shape September more than any other player, is not physical.
He has the physical tools that make him good, but in September there are a lot of good players. The difference with Martin is he has an attitude that makes him a great.
Those who know him at Richmond, like former assistant coach Mark Williams, say he is driven by a determination not to let anyone down.
“A great deal of it is about making his dad – and his mum – proud. That really drives him. He wants to make those he loves - his parents and his teammates and his coach 'Dimma' [Damien Hardwick] – proud of him. He doesn’t want to let them down, he wants to be the one they rely on,” Williams said.
“He is very protective so he wants to look after them and do it for them.
“He loves to deliver for his teammates, he does not want to let 'Dimma' or his teammates down. That drives him. He cares about them.”
The fact he had a poor preliminary final last year was in part a product of this. Martin suffered a bad corkie and probably should not have played, but did not want to let anyone down, so he played.
“Until this year he hardly missed a game but he has learnt it is not always the best thing to play hurt,” another Richmond person said.
“Some days he could hardly walk on the Thursday and he would still get up and play because he just loves playing.”
Telling Martin he could not play due to injury is about the most unenviable job at the club.
It might come as a surprise given assumptions based on image but Dusty Martin is also meticulous with his preparation.
The idea that he played with the injury and could not have the impact he wanted last year will be scratching away at the back of Martin’s head this year, according to some who know him well, and will accentuate the already strong desire to be the player who performs for his teammates.
“He likes to make people proud and he has that belief he can make a difference. He wants the ball because he knows he can make a difference and has complete confidence in himself,” Williams added.
Another Richmond person described him succinctly: “He is a give-me-the-ball player.”
There are players who, when things are at the most critical, do not want the ball. The responsibility is too much. Martin isn’t one of those players.
“I think Dusty and very elite players live for the big stage. Whereas some might hide and fade away under the microscope that's where he gets great,” Williams said.
“He grows another leg in regard to belief. He likes chasing carrots and for him the carrot is, 'OK, I’ve won one, I want to win another. What is the next thing I have not done?' He likes the challenge of the occasion and what he can do on the biggest stage.
“In finals there is typically more pressure, more intensity, more contact, more collisions, more contests and he fires in those conditions.”
While he was surprisingly left out of the All-Australian team last week, Martin has been close to the form that has already won him a Brownlow and a Norm Smith Medal as Richmond finished the home-and-away season with a nine-game winning streak.
At Richmond the Dusty-and-Tigers riddle is a chicken-and-egg conundrum: what came first Dusty’s form or Richmond’s? You can’t unscramble the two.
“We just started to get on a roll and we all started to hit some form at the right time. I don't know if it was part of us just getting him (Martin) more involved in the game,” teammate Dion Prestia said this week.
He acknowledged something that Williams raised, that some people in Martin’s situation would be satisfied with their achievement. Martin looks for the next thing to chase, the next carrot as Williams put it.
“It would be pretty hard after everything that he has won over the last couple of years to keep going," Prestia said.
"There is not much more motivation you need than to get another premiership under your belt.
"His last six or seven weeks have been amazing. He is a big-time player. This week off, I would say has freshened everyone up and got everyone ready to go."
Martin is ready to go. It’s finals, it's spring, the field is Dusty’s.
He makes it look easy but then, as Dusty would know, being good isn’t always easy no matter how hard you try.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/dusty-s-spring-field-20190905-p52ofs.html
