Dustin Martin is a genuine guy who’s just misunderstood, writes Mark WilliamsMARK WILLIAMS,
Herald Sun
March 10, 2017 EVERY morning before a Richmond home game I meet Dustin Martin at the same Elwood cafe.
Each time, after breakfast, we end up on the street outside playing kick-to-kick with the footy-mad owner. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.
It also doesn’t sound like the sort of guy who would “storm off” or “run away” does it?
That’s because it isn’t and that’s because Dustin doesn’t.
What we’ve seen this week is symptomatic of Dustin’s career. It’s a sensationalist portrayal of what really happened and again he’s been put in a box and people judge him by that.
Dustin, on his day off, gave his time to do me a favour at the launch of my new Sherrin Precision football at the MCG.
He was anxious about the media asking him about his contract because he just doesn’t want to talk about it.
I know the media are trying to do their job, but I’m not sure what they’re trying to find because he’s not going to sign or make a decision in the next minute or the next month, so why bother?
I first met Dustin Martin five years ago. He was late and a little out of shape at Richmond’s first training session after the Christmas break.
Back then he was certainly at the crossroads. He could have gone off the tracks and this blossoming footy career we’re now witnessing would never have happened.
There were serious discussions as to whether this guy was going to make it. Was he the real thing or would he just be another young player to never reach his potential?
It’s hard to imagine how a 52-year-old bloke would be equipped to look after a young bloke who’s a bit of a tearaway, albeit with enormous talent, but that’s what Damien Hardwick and the club wanted.
Would we connect? Pretty quickly we knew it wasn’t simply a manufactured relationship, but one based on respect, communication and trust.
Like all good relationships, they come with time. It’s not a 9-5 job — it’s about showing you care and trying to understand the person.
I think the number one thing was to invite him into my home where I’ve got five kids and we all sit around the dinner table with my wife, Pauline, cooking meals.
The kids knew he was an important player, but because they’d grown up around football they just treated him like one of their brothers.
They would spend hours playing pool, table tennis, darts and even quoits because Dustin’s into everything.
He just loves being part of a group and not being by himself. I still think he needs to work on his pool game, but he’s got me at table tennis.
We’d go ten pin bowling. Imagine Dustin bowling with a group of people and all of them hanging it on each other over the score and my kids trying to put him off and him laughing.
You look at the tattoos and the hair and people judge by the cover, but you need to dig a bit deeper to find the real him.
My darling little daughter Isabelle adores him and is always hugging him. Dustin promises one day he’s going to get a little butterfly tattoo, but she’s monitoring his ink and she can’t see any butterflies. He says one day.
Dustin has come around to our house once a week for the last four years. He does go AWOL, if you like, over the off-season and I’m continually texting him while he’s away.
That can be tough because he’s probably lost or broken 10 phones in my time knowing him. He has a bit of trouble with that.
All we need to do is check in with each other to know he’s OK. I don’t try to box him in with too many rules, but he likes knowing that someone is actively interested in his welfare.
That Japanese restaurant incident at the end of 2015 was just so unfortunate. I’m a person who doesn’t smoke or drink and if I stand up for Dustin it’s because I believe in him.
He’s not a saint and he makes some bad decisions like everyone else. Over the years I’ve seen countless people drink and get into situations they wouldn’t want to.
Dustin would agree it wasn’t perfect him, but he is an understanding, quiet and shy person who doesn’t confront people at all.
My family and I have a special relationship with him, along with his mum, Kathy, his aunties and his dad, Shane.
His dad calls me from New Zealand and talks to me about how he’s going. His dad just wants the best for him and is always so proud of him and really misses going to watch him because he was always there.
When you’re a footballer, you’re on the ground and there’s 100,000 there, but you’re actually only playing for two or three special people every time. You know where they sit, you might glance at them and you’re trying to make them proud and that’s what Dustin does.
Some players you look at and think ‘yeah, he’s lucky to play AFL’. Dustin’s form isn’t based on luck.
Most people would assume otherwise with his casual demeanour and all those tatts, but he spends hours and hours working on his game. If he can’t do something someone else can, he works ferociously on it.
We’ve been working on his future after football, too. He’s come a long way with his keynote speaking and he has a presentation with videos and photos about his journey and making choices in life.
He presents at Cauldfield Grammar and TAC Cup teams and the students and players love him.
He’s doing his Certificate IV in business with a view to getting into the transport industry and it’s thrilling to see someone who didn’t finish high school want to go back and study and put himself to the test.
Dustin is terrific guy who’s very much misunderstood. He doesn’t really care about changing it, though, he is what he is and only those close to him know that.
He allows me and my family to understand him. Being in his inner sanctum is a wonderful thing.
He had an upbringing where he had to work for everything. He played footy at an early age against men, left school early and been thrown into work early.
It’s easy to assume you won’t become a champion player with that background, but against all odds he’s survived and flourished.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/dustin-martin-is-a-genuine-guy-whos-just-misunderstood-writes-mark-williams/news-story/c20b6fa0ac59d984f5724c34449e8200
