Tiger's teeth cut in Giants' backyard Malcolm Conn
The Daily Telegraph
June 16, 2012 RICHMOND young gun Dustin Martin has played more Australian football in western Sydney than most of the GWS Giants who will oppose him at Skoda Stadium today.
Not that the robust Tigers midfielder considers himself a Sydneysider after spending one of his formative seasons with the Campbelltown Blues.
But such is the cosmopolitan nature of newly-formed GWS that only a handful of the current list played in the Giants development team out of Blacktown last season. The rest were drafted in from around the country over summer.
Two of those players from last season, the bigger-bodied duo of Israel Folau and Jonathan Giles, have been ruled out amid a string of injuries, further weakening the Giants.
At least another NSW player, Sam Schulz, 20, from the tiny Riverina town of Culcairn, will play his first AFL game today along with number one draft pick Jonathan Patton, bringing to 29 the number of AFL debutants used by the Giants already this season.
Every one of them can be inspired by Martin, one of the AFL draft's good news stories.
He has played 54 of a possible 55 games for Richmond, kicking 56 goals, since being taken third in the 2009 draft, creating the foundations for an A Grade midfield along with vice-captain Trent Cotchin, 22. From his first game as an 18-year-old Martin was a boy who played like a man, fending off seasoned opponents and doing hard work in heavy traffic.
His approach to life mirrors his approach to football, straightforward and uncomplicated.
This is not surprising given Martin has been mixing it with men on and off the field since he was 15.
The son of a Maori father and Australian mother who separated, Martin dropped out of school in year nine and moved from Castlemaine in central Victoria to Sydney so he could work in his father's trucking business.
"I missed dad and decided to go up there and live with him for a year," Martin told The Daily Telegraph.
He enjoyed the time with his father, who will be at Skoda Stadium with his mates today watching his son go around.
The work, however, was a harsh dose of reality and Martin now regrets leaving school so young.
"It was pretty s*** to be honest," he said. "It wasn't fun at all.
"I was getting up at five in the morning and getting home at six o'clock at night. The semis came in early in the morning. You had to unload all of them then load them back up.
"There were trucks coming in throughout the day you had to unload and load and sort out pallets. It was just boring. I wasn't at school with my mates, where I'd rather have been.
"It was just a silly mistake I made to leave school. I did a bit of study but that never lasted.
"I wasn't really interested in it.
"I worked for a few different people here and there labouring - all that boring stuff."
One of his outlets was playing football. He was a standout as a 15-year-old playing with Campbelltown in the under 18s, trying out for the NSW/ACT Rams and playing a senior game at the end of the season.
A combination of family, football and mates drew Martin back to Castlemaine after a year.
Given his limited options he put his heart and soul into football, playing with the desperation of a young man who wanted to make something of his life.
Martin was terrified he would not be drafted but had no need to be concerned. Ten clubs spoke to him and Richmond pounced early.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-teeth-cut-in-giants-backyard/story-e6frexwr-1226397104774
