Young Tiger on prowlCaroline Wilson
June 25, 2011Rising star Dustin Martin is quickly fulfilling his promise at Richmond.
DUSTIN Martin has been likened in recent weeks to Mark Ricciuto, Leigh Matthews, Darren Millane and Sam Kekovich. The teenager knows little about any of the above and not long ago may not have heard of at least two of them.
The closest he came to analysing his occasionally freakish ability in any way during a meeting at Punt Road this week was to agree that he was happy with his weight loss this year. While Martin was posing for a photograph, a former Tigers hero, Dale Weightman, wandered past and I asked if he agreed that Martin compared with any of the above.
''He's not like anyone,'' Weightman said. ''He's unique. In a few years we won't be talking about who Dusty's like because it will just be Dusty the original.''
As a boy growing up in Castlemaine, Martin loved St Kilda and his nominated hero was Robert Harvey. Now he loves the Tigers and marvels that there was even speculation last season that his head could have been turned by Greater Western Sydney.
Martin said he ''just laughed'' when he heard the GWS talk. He says he did not entertain a move and certainly never spoke to anyone from the new club. ''I never even thought about moving because I just love it here,'' he said. ''There are so many great people here who have just helped me so much and I've got so many friends here.
''Wayne Campbell's been a great help, I talk to him about what I should do with my footy and things outside footy like property and 'Axel' [Nathan Foley] has made a massive difference since he's been back in the team. I can learn so much from him … I got tagged against Fremantle and after that game I spoke to him and 'Cotchy' [Trent Cotchin] and they just spoke about working harder … I probably didn't make the most of playing with ''Cuzzy'' [Ben Cousins] because I didn't ask him enough about his footy.''
Martin and his freakish talent have been lauded more than ever since Richmond's victory over the Brisbane Lions last Saturday night but all he would say of his five-goal performance was that, ''I was lucky to get those goals; it was the other boys who did all the work getting the ball to me.''
The view at Richmond is that Martin, whose tattooed stomach caused a small media furore when he was first presented to the public soon after his No. 3 selection in the 2009 draft and who still struggles with mobile telephone bills and Citylink fines, has progressed even more as a person over the past 18 months than he has as a footballer.
Having left school at 14 he is trying to develop a life outside football but, when pressed, Martin admitted his favourite occupation away from the game was to go out with his mates - many of whom are now his teammates.
''I don't like staying at home and watching TV,'' he said, ''I'm a lot happier out with the boys. I don't mind the Playstation and I play a bit of table tennis, but there's not all that much time for anything else.''
There is also the odd game of basketball with the children of Richmond president Gary March, where Martin has been living for about a year now.
The son of a biker, Shane, with whom he shares the ''Live Free. Die Free'' stomach artwork, Martin received his motorcycle learner's permit earlier this year. His younger brother Bronson, 17, lives in Sydney with his father and races bikes competitively, but as Martin pointed out: ''Dad loves his Harleys but I think for me that will have to wait until after football.''
Which would appear a wise choice. Martin does not appear fast but he is deceptively quick. From two or three steps he can kick the football 60 metres and when that kick is headed for goal, the goal umpire rarely moves. He is not a crash-and-bash player and yet he is tough. Never sucked into a fight, Martin appears never to have been taught but mastered the art of the odd perfectly executed fend-off. Of the ''don't argue'' he most recently performed at the Gabba last weekend, Martin said: ''I didn't do it as a junior. I guess I just started doing it. We practise tackling a lot and we do the odd bit of wrestling, but it's not something I think about.''
In fact, tackling is something he has really only been taught since arriving at Richmond under Damien Hardwick, and he learnt to kick with his brothers in his backyard. Like Hardwick, he refuses to dwell on himself. At least upon his football.
Since Ricky Nixon's public disgrace and the sale of his company Flying Start, Martin, a Nixon client, has been approached by several other influential agents. He considered leaving Nixon after the February scandal but last week told Richmond he would stay with Nixon's former charge Winston Rousand the new company Phoenix. ''He's a gem,'' said Martin of the 20-something Rous. ''For me just starting out, having him supporting me has been like gold. I'm sticking with him, we've got a great relationship.''
Tomorrow is Martin's 20th birthday. He bought himself a guitar during the week and plans to learn it and will celebrate the end of his teens with his mates and family members - elder brother Tyson recently moved to Perth and mother Kathy still runs a cleaning business in Castlemaine. He told The Saturday Age he has no plans for any more tattoos now - a year has passed since he added two Maori phrases in honour of his father's heritage.
On Monday night his landlord - March - will cook a birthday dinner at home for Martin and his closest friends at the club. Martin nominates his best mate at Tigerland as Daniel Connors, a talented footballer struggling with a quad injury who also occasionally sleeps over at the president's house.
But everyone at Richmond who knows the story of how Sydney recruiter Kinnear Beatson thought he had snagged a ''smoky'' shortly before the 2008 draft privately celebrates the fact that Martin was born in June.
Martin had returned from a year living in Sydney with his father after quitting school during year nine. His father had him working long hours in his transport company but the prospect of remaining in New South Wales for the required three years to be eligible for the scholarship scheme did not appeal.
He had only just begun to make an impact with the Bendigo Pioneers when Beatson learned his potential midfield ''coup'' was in fact two months too young to be drafted that year. Disappointed, Beatson called Martin just to be sure and it was that call, according to the player, that reinforced his belief that his childhood dream would come true.
Martin was known to have uttered the words: ''I was born to play AFL'', but when questioned on that, he responded simply: ''Obviously, I always wanted to play AFL. When I lived in Sydney there was a lot of talk around the guys I was playing with about the scholarships in New South Wales and I wanted to make it, but I was bored and I missed home and I missed my mates.''
Just over a year later, with a full Bendigo season under his belt, Martin's explosive speed and kicking ability had lifted him to a clear third in the 2009 draft behind only Tom Scully and Jack Trengove. In his first year at Richmond, he finished fourth in the Jack Dyer Medal count and, in his second, he is being touted as a potential 2011 All-Australian.
When Martin's former manager Nixon leaked to the media last season that his client - after less than half a season - had been unofficially offered $800,000 a year to switch camps, March spoke publicly about the unfairness of a new AFL club taking a youthful early draft pick from a team that had been on the bottom of the ladder.
Martin signed a new deal with Richmond, tying him to the club until the end of 2013 and now Melbourne faces a similar problem, exacerbated by the fact that Scully has deferred all contract talk until the end of this season.
The prospect of the cream of that 2009 draft meeting at the MCG today has both teams hopeful of a 60,000 crowd.
March and Martin often discuss football and the president told him after last week's game that it was the three effective smothers and four equally effective tackles that had made him proud, more than the goals.
March would only say to The Saturday Age about his tenant that he was in many ways a typical teenager struggling to come to terms with the bureaucracy of life and that his shyness had occasionally been mistaken in the past for aloofness or arrogance. He suspects Martin enjoys the fact that March's children treat him more like an elder sibling than a football star.
''It's true that my wife Bev and I will be devastated when [he] does move out,'' added March, ''and he knows he's welcome here for as long as he wants.''
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