Tale of troubled Tiger Dustin
Herald-Sun
12 December 2015
IF his off-field life can often be described as chaotic, the same can never be applied to Dustin Martin’s AFL journey, where even before being drafted in 2009 he declared he was “born to play AFL”.
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A star on field, Dustin Martin's life off the ground is not so professional"IF his off-field life can often be described as chaotic, the same can never be applied to Dustin Martin’s AFL journey, where even before being drafted in 2009 he declared he was “born to play AFL”.
It was a comment that belied a quiet and normally respectful nature, one widely at odds with allegedly threatening a patron with menace, his weapon of choice being a chopstick, in a trendy Melbourne eatery.
That he was correct in his assessment he was born for the AFL was fortuitous given his departure from Castlemaine High School at the end of year 9 suggested a career in academia was unlikely.
But don’t assume he is dumb like one AFL club did in the rigorous pre-draft interviews that sometimes delve into areas that have little or no relevance to whether a young man can succeed in the big time.
He was actually asked “are you dumb?” in a challenging and potentially hurtful moment for a teenager.
Far from being offended by the accusation of potential stupidity, Martin thought the question “fair enough”.
Indeed, he has been on the record in his rare interviews as saying he regrets leaving school so early and is at times embarrassed by it.
A scholar he may not be but there is a brain and it does tick over, although his natural shyness, decision to acquire neck tattoos by age 20 and preference for holiday destinations such as Las Vegas suggest someone who lives very much for the moment.
What happens on his annual end-of-season overseas jaunts with his like-minded Collingwood buddy, Dane Swan, stays on the trip.
Although when travelling to Vegas it’s safe to assume they don’t acquaint themselves historically with the 1855 travels of William Bringhurst and his 29 Mormon missionaries who travelled from Utah to settle in the Las Vegas Valley.
If looking for historical guidance Martin and Swan presumably lean more towards the work of Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, who helped establish the ca-sino gambling strips that define Vegas.
Certainly, the 24-year-old likes to have a good time, like any young man his age.
But having a good time crossed over into something much darker and more unpredictable in a trendy Windsor restaurant last Saturday night.
Martin spent Friday evening having dinner with close friends and playing with flatmate, former Richmond bad boy, Daniel Connors’ children.
The pair have continued to share digs even though Connors was sacked and Martin suspended for two weeks by Richmond Football Club in 2012 over a prescription drugs issue. The pair had missed a Tuesday training session after taking sleeping pills.
Martin rose early the next day and went for a 3km run before joining up with a group of friends at music festival Stereosonic, which started at noon, at Melbourne Showgrounds.
He was in a relaxed and mischievous mood, having a few drinks and willingly posing up for selfies with fans and sticking his tongue out at the camera in one taken at 1.20pm.
Late afternoon, he was still posing up for pictures but his playful antics were subdued and he could barely muster a smile.
Just before 8.30pm — still sporting his Stereosonic wristband — he turned up with a mate at trendy Mr Miyagi’s restaurant and bar in Chapel St.
A queue snaked outside the restaurant on to the footpath as it did most nights of the week. The food and atmosphere is popular among diners hankering for a taste of the Miyagi Fried Chicken or a roast duck roti wrap.
The two joined the queue where one person said Martin was stumbling on his feet and slurring his words.
“He was extremely erratic and all over the place,” the diner said.
“He wasn’t aggressive at that stage but you could see he wasn’t right — you could see it in his eyes, he was slurring his words and just in space land, not with it at all.”
It wasn’t long before a Miyagi staff member appeared, greeted Martin with a handshake and ushered the two inside.
“They seemed to know each other, and he went straight in, past the queue,” another diner said.
The pair propped at the bar, at the far end of the restaurant, drinking shots of sake — Martin having three in one hour, according to a patron inside. He was seen heading to the bathroom several times in that period.
Another diner said Martin kept bumping into customers as he struggled to keep steady on his feet.
He bought shots of sake for two women having dinner, after repeatedly nudging into them.
Martin started getting rowdy and messing around with a set of chopsticks. It was a difficult spectacle to ignore.
One diner said he began approaching diners, hitting the tables with the chopsticks as though he were playing the drums.
Red-eyed and seemingly only just functioning, he posed for his last selfie of the night at 9.42 — still clutching one of the wooden chopsticks in his right hand. Minutes later, he stuck two chopsticks in his mouth and pretended to be a walrus — with matching sound effects.
Some grinned through gritted teeth then looked away as he moved on to other unsuspecting diners.
Others were not so impressed.
One, a 30-year-old Sydney woman, beckoned him over to her table, immediately behind the bar where he had been drinking. It was 10pm.
She politely pointed out that he was a recognisable face — people knew who he was — and perhaps it was best for him to calm down.
The victim alleges Martin towered over her seat, held a chopstick above her eye and threatened to stab her in the face with it.
“You’re gonna dob on me, are you?” he erupted. “Don’t tell me how to live my life. I’ll f------ kill you’.” He then slammed his open palm into a wall just above her head.
“It was extremely intimidating,” the woman said.
Other diners said Martin exploded with rage.
“He was very aggressive, snarling and swearing,” one said.
Witnesses described Martin’s friend trying to pull him away from the table before a manager stepped in.
They grabbed his arm and led him from the premises, still abusing the woman.
A co-owner of Mr Miyagi’s, who would not give his name, initially denied anything had happened before later admitting: “Something went down.”
“He was here with a mate, just sitting at the bar,” he said after consulting with other co-owners.
“An incident happened, some words were said, something went down and I think the manager went over and he was told it was probably best to leave, or I think he knew he should, and he walked out.”
He denied anything happened with a chopstick or that a wall was hit.
Martin was a regular at the trendy venue and was “a nice guy”.
Mr Miyagi’s bar and restaurant has gone above and beyond its liquor licence requirements by having CCTV cameras — both inside and out — installed.
However, not a single camera was working on the night.
“They’re being upgraded and none of them are working,” the co-owner said.
“They stopped working 10 or 12 days ago. We are getting new ones next week, on the 16th.
“If it happened a week earlier, or a week later, it would have all been on there.”
Martin has apologised to the woman involved and blamed “too much drink” for what happened — not that he can remember any of it.
No matter the outcome of investigations into the incident, there is no denying Martin’s football talent. Some commentators predict it is his on-field behaviour that may save his career.
His progression through junior footy ranks was largely unspectacular until his breakout 2009 season with both the Bendigo Pioneers and Victorian U18 Metro team at the National Championships.
Martin’s coach for Vic Metro was Robert Hyde, highly respected for his work with the Calder Cannons and a former defender with Collingwood won the 1976 Copeland Trophy before knee injuries ruined his career.
“Dustin Martin just came out of the blue in that season. Because he hadn’t been through the system like some of the other boys he hadn’t formed a lot of relationships and his nature was one where he just wanted to play footy, someone who never said much and kept to himself,” said Hyde.
“But he was a good enough kid, no drama. He just came in and did what he was asked to do and never complained. A nice enough young man. He would just sit in the group and plod along until he got his chance to play footy and then he was explosive.
“When you first looked at his body shape he was a bit solid around here and there but he just kept finding the footy.
“I actually thought he might struggle when he went to AFL level because he just used to push off blokes but he does exactly the same thing now. He’s just like a big bull. He puts the old mitt out and off they (his opponents) go.”
In an injury-interrupted career Hyde played with and against a pair of footballers in Sam Kekovich and Tim Watson who he believes Martin resembles: “He has that burst of power that Sam Kekovich and Tim Watson had. But Tim used to sometimes jump over them whereas Dustin just runs through them, an AFL version of All Black legend Jonah Lomu.
“At 187cm he is the same height as Kekovich and a bit taller than Watson (185cm) while he is 5-6kg lighter at 89-90kg. But the increased running in today’s game would mean those two would have to lose weight to adapt.
“Because of his background, Dustin didn’t have a huge tank so we rotated him heavily through the midfield and occasionally forward.
“Like David Rodan he had that sideways step that caused havoc for his opponents. He was a power athlete who was hard to tackle.”
He was all those things in 2009 and remains them today in an on-field career that had progressed to a point where many rate him Richmond’s most lethal weapon. He continues to play the game with brute force yet he plays it largely in a fair fashion.
He has never been rubbed out, his hiccups coming via fines for a two-fingered salute to Collingwood fans in August this year and a handcuff gesture to Carlton supporters in 2013.
Indeed his only suspension came via the club in 2012 when he and then housemate Daniel Connors missed training after sleeping in, resulting in two matches out for Martin and Connors being sacked.
It’s interesting to revisit his draft year and ask a current AFL recruiting person would they have taken Martin both then and now: “He was clearly really, really talented even if there were alarm bells there. Would we have taken him at the time? Probably, although the landscape has changed in six years. And it depends where your club is at.
“You talk through the risk management and if you take him then you bank on your culture to get him through. But if you have a player or players on your list who could be problems, then you mightn’t tempt fate.”
Martin is contracted to Richmond until the end of 2017 although his latest transgression will surely see the Tigers tempted should the right deal come their way in Trade Week next October.
But would they receive full market value?
Martin is now in the same category as Harley Bennell found himself this year after a series of stuff-ups.
The Gold Coast took Bennell with Pick 2 and then five years later, after he proved he could seriously play, got Picks 16 and 35 from Fremantle while giving up 22.
That isn’t great reward for a super talent but that’s what happens when you acquire baggage. It will be the same with Martin should Richmond decide to roll the dice.
That would be a massive call from the Tigers given the extensive work they have put into trying to help Martin become a responsible citizen.
Former President Gary March and his wife Beverley remain both friends and mentors of Martin, although March preferred not to comment this week other than to say his family “support Dustin 100 per cent”.
The Martin believers, such as March and Richmond assistant coach Mark Williams, will continue to support a young man who can be easy to like.
Whether Richmond displays the same belief and patience will be determined by how Martin responds to his latest and most public accusation.
