Dustin Martin (born 26 June 1991) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Martin was drafted by Richmond with the third pick in the 2009 national draft, and made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2010 season. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and considered by many to be the greatest finals player of all time.
Martin won the Jack Dyer Medal as Richmond's best and fairest player in 2016, along with his first All-Australian selection. He has won three premierships, two Jack Dyer Medals and four All-Australian selections among other individual accolades, and also won several major best-on-ground awards. In each of his three premiership years, he won the Norm Smith Medal as best afield in the grand final (Martin is the only player to win the award three times) and the Gary Ayres Award as the player of the finals series.
In 2017, Martin had what was described by AFL legend Leigh Matthews as the greatest-ever individual season by a VFL/AFL player. Despite constant speculation over his playing future, Martin won the league's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal, with a record 36 votes, as well as a premiership and the Norm Smith Medal, becoming the first player to win all three in a single season. He also won numerous other accolades, including the Leigh Matthews Trophy, the AFLCA champion player of the year award and his second Jack Dyer Medal.
Early life and junior football
Martin was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, to a Māori father, Shane Martin, and an Australian mother, Kathy Knight. His father has family connections to the Ngāti Maru tribe on New Zealand's north island. Martin is one of three boys, alongside brothers Tyson and Bronson.
Martin first took up football at age six, learning the sport with the local Auskick program. He would also play regularly with his brothers on their self-constructed field in one of the paddocks at his family's three acre home in Yapeen. From there he played junior football for Campbell's Creek, before spending time with the Bendigo Pioneers under 15 squad.
His parents separated when he was 14 and Martin moved to Sydney with his father, leaving school at Castlemaine Secondary College after Year 9 and taking up full-time work. He worked various roles at his father's transport business including as a forklift driver while also assisting his father's girlfriend's sports apparel business. In total he worked regular twelve hour days, later saying he hated "working long days" in what was "not a very good job."
While in Sydney he continued to play football, starting off with the Ingleburn Magpies Junior Australian Football Club's under 16 side. He stayed for just four matches however, dominating so comprehensively he was moved to the Campbelltown Football Club's under 18s team despite being aged only 15. He even played for the club's senior team on one occasion that year. At this time he enquired about joining the Sydney Swans junior academy, but found himself ineligible due to having not lived in Sydney for the required minimum three years.
After a year in Sydney, Martin moved back to Victoria to live with his mother by late December 2007. He did not return to school however, instead working three days a week for a local electrical contractor before a short stint as stonemason. In addition to some time playing cricket as a fast bowler for Guildford, Martin returned to his goal of playing in the AFL. He trained with Castlemaine's senior side over his first summer back and within four matches had impressed enough to be asked back into the Bendigo Pioneer's junior program. He continued to play for Castlemaine for most of the season, winning the Bendigo Football League's rising star award that year. He also played four matches for the Pioneers TAC Cup team in a month that began to earn him the attention of AFL recruiters.
He returned to the Pioneers side the following year and became a stand-out player. Across 11 games with Bendigo, Martin would average 24.7 disposals and 9.7 contested possessions. He also ranked first at the club for disposals, contested possessions, clearances, inside-50s and score assists despite playing so few games, and placed second at the club's best and fairest awards night. Martin went on to be named at centre in the TAC Cup's team of the year.
At an earlier age, Martin was overlooked for state representative football, missing out on the 2007 under-16 national championships as well as at the under-18 carnival the next year. Martin did, however, play for Victoria Country in the 2009 AFL Under 18 Championships, averaging 21.4 touches, 7.2 contested possessions and 0.8 goals in the five games he played. In the final match of the competition, he recorded 28 disposals and five clearances against Western Australia. He was rewarded for his efforts at the championships with a selection at centre in the tournament's All-Australian team.
Martin gained the attention of AFL scouts from as early as 2008, with Sydney's recruiting boss Kinnear Beatson contacting Martin in an attempt to commit him to the club. This was on the back of a previous attempt to join the club's junior academy program. He was however just two months too young to qualify for that year's draft and remained ineligible for the Swans' academy program.
When his draft year arrived in 2009 the Swans were again interested in drafting him, hoping he would fall to their selection at number six.
That was on the back of an impressive draft camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in October of that year. He recorded strong results at the camp, finishing equal second in the kicking efficiency test as well as running the 20 metre sprint in 2.89 seconds, the second fastest at the camp. He also placed seventh in the repeat sprints test and scored 14.3 on the beep test despite initial questions over his endurance ability. He was described at the time by The Age draft expert Emma Quayle as "a strong-bodied, strong-minded midfielder who keeps his feet, can slip tackles, kick with both feet and go forward to take a mark." When Richmond officials became certain Melbourne (who held picks number one and two in the draft) would select other players before Martin, they travelled to his Bendigo home to inform him that they would be certain to secure him with their pick.
Martin was drafted by Richmond with the club's first pick and third selection overall in the 2009 AFL draft.
He arrived at the club as an incredibly shy and underdeveloped personality, a fact that was noted by teammate Trent Cotchin who said though Martin was 18 "he seemed much younger in some of the ways he behaved." Indeed, he struggled initially to adjust to the expectations of professional football. In one incident in the 2010 pre-season he was removed from training and verbally reprimanded by club leadership when he was deemed unfit to train after a big night out. Despite these struggles, his on-field development was such that he would still debut in the 2010 season's opening match, a 56-point Richmond loss against Carlton at the MCG. Martin recorded the sixth most disposals of any Tiger (18) to go along with four marks, three tackles and three clearances. Two weeks later Martin was convicted by the AFL tribunal for a high hit on Sydney's Josh Kennedy in round 3. He did not receive a suspension for the incident however, returning to football the following week. After four matches Martin ranked fourth in the league for clearances and eighth for hard-ball gets. Media reports emerged after round 8
that the 18 year old Martin had received a significant contract offer from expansion club the Greater Western Sydney Giants. The offer, which the Herald Sun's Mark Robinson claimed to be worth $2.4 million over three seasons, would have taken effect in the new club's first AFL season in 2012. Martin later said he had never entertained the idea of moving to the start-up club. In round 10 he had gained attention for his on-field efforts again, this time being nominated for the 2010 AFL Rising Star award after a 21 disposal and 11 clearance match against Port Adelaide. Due to his previous tribunal conviction however, Martin was ruled ineligible for the award and thus did not officially place in the end of season award's points tally. He drew the attention of Sydney coach Paul Roos by round 14, prompting Roos to send veteran Brett Kirk onto Martin in a tagging role. Despite this extra attention, he still managed to record 18 disposals and a goal in the match at the MCG. After 17 rounds Martin ranked second at the club for clearances and inside-50s as well as third for disposals and contested possessions. At the same time he ranked first among that season's Rising Star nominees in clearances, contested possessions and inside-50s. He was also fourth for average disposals and fifth for average tackles. In round 19 he was rested by the club before returning to play out the final five matches of the season. He missed just that one game in his debut season and finished the year ranked second at Richmond for clearances and inside-50s, as well as third for both contested possessions and disposals. In addition to winning the Fred Swift Medal for fourth place at the club's best and fairest night, Martin also received six votes in the Brownlow Medal count that year, the most by any Richmond debutant since Craig Lambert in 1988. At season's end he reiterated his commitment to the club (and rejection of the former GWS overtures) by signing a two-year contract extension that would keep him at Richmond until the end of the 2013 season. The extension was reported by the Herald Sun to be in the vicinity of $400,000-a-year contract.