Dustin Martin has been one of the players of his generation, if not the greatest of them all. His talent is best expressed in a moment, and he gets one of those moments today in his 300th senior match. It has been several years since he was a serious threat for any honours as his ability to run a game out in midfield has drained away with age, but today he is a strong spot play in draft leagues as his teammates will want to set him up to wind the clock back for a milestone special. Hawthorn may have had some strong recent form; this is Dusty's day and he is usually not to be denied.
Dustin Martin has been one of the players of his generation, if not the greatest of them all. His talent is best expressed in a moment, and he gets one of those moments today in his 300th senior match. It has been several years since he was a serious threat for any honours as his ability to run a game out in midfield has drained away with age, but today he is a strong spot play in draft leagues as his teammates will want to set him up to wind the clock back for a milestone special. Hawthorn may have had some strong recent form; this is Dusty's day and he is usually not to be denied.
Dustin Martin has been subject to an insanely strong string of trade speculation stories in the press this week following Richmond coach Damien Hardwick stating that he would not stand in the way of the champion seeking further challenges away from Punt Road. The piece missing from this puzzle is any indication that Dusty himself wants to leave - he may have just finished a personal absence at the club but that sounded more like it was about his dad than anything negative at Tigerland. His demeanour onfield hasn't changed, so hoping for a contractual boost seems unlikely.
Dustin Martin had an excellent round 1 and we all thought the Brownlow winner was going to go on with it to have an all-time 2021. It hasn't worked out like that, including a concussion and some fairly nondescript games as the Tigers dropped to a 4-4 record. The Richmond midfield is sorely lacking in soldiers now due to a rash of injuries, so they will rely more and more on Dusty to pull them out of the hole they are in. He's going at half rat pace at the moment to be honest, and needs to shift through the gears quickly. How many fantasy coaches will take a chance on him this week?
Dustin Martin was not always the jewellery-draped superstar we know him as now. In his early years he earned a reputation among fantasy coaches who saw his potential early of only playing half a game, often going missing after half time as his tank wasn't what it is now. He has also traditionally been a slow starter in March, even during his pomp years, but in 2021 he has come out of the blocks at full speed. Perhaps the lack of travel in the off-season due to COVID is to blame? He looms as a must-have for salary cap comps, the earlier the better.
What is best in life?
When you look back at Dustin Martin's 2019 it will seem like he dominated the competition, finishing sixth in the Brownlow and earning a second Norm Smith Medal. Like his team, however, he struggled through much of the campaign and was frequently carrying a heavy load, including half a dozen hard tags. Despite the Tigers' reversion to a more traditional forward structure, the shape of his stat line stayed the same as he rotated forward a lot. After a hot middle stretch, soreness caught up with him in August. A strong argument can be made that Martin is not even the best inside mid at the club now, with Dion Prestia coming into his full powers. Dusty has the knack of turning up at the right time to deliver the killer blow, not the sort to deliver death by a thousand cuts but more of a Conan-style cleaver. His new classification as a forward restores great life to his fantasy value, which had been waning since his Brownlow year of 2017. He should be picked very early, as options at his scoring level are very thin this season.
Dustin Martin is coming off a rather down year, but only by his lofty standards. As a victim of the trend of resting midfielders more in the forward line than on the bench in the wake of limits on interchange rotations, at times Martin was a target forward like Jack Ziebell or Patrick Dangerfield. Meanwhile, the Tigers' clearance rates fell from elite levels back to the pack, which ultimately told in their preliminary final loss to the rampaging Magpie engine room. Will the 6-6-6 rule mean Dusty spends more time in the guts and less time getting cold in the goalsquare? Everyone is watching.
Dusty gathers dust
One of the major fantasy disappointments of last season, Dustin Martin dropped off from his Brownlow form is every part of his game in a statistical sense. Most of the shortfall came in the middle part of the season when he copped some heavy tags after a hot start, but he posted four 100+ scores out of five leading into September then didn't reach 20 disposals in the losing preliminary final. The one area he largely maintained was his goalscoring, underlining a role more focused in attack. The advent of Tom J. Lynch at Richmond may be the catalyst for a return to top form by Martin, who at times last season was getting cold feet staying deep while his team was getting belted in clearances. A more traditional structure ahead of the ball would mean less scoreboard responsibility for by far their best midfielder, and more licence to hunt the ball in packs. That's if Lynch is fit to play the season out, of course... too many ifs! As it is, he's a middle-rounder for whom someone will reach.
Dustin Martin is a poster boy for a lot of reasons, including the shift by Richmond away from accumulation and towards a focus on possessions that help the team. His role starting in the guts has involved a lot of forward rotations, like many of his midfield cadre, and it has hurt his contested possession count as well. He is in danger of falling out of the top echelon of fantasy scorers.
Dustin Martin has had an up-and-down year, dealing with the hangover from a Brownlow Medal and a premiership medal, and also some family issues. His fantasy numbers have suffered noticeably, though less so in Supercoach as he has saved his contributions up for quality over quantity. This is not pleasing for his owners who were counting on him to back up from a dominant 2017 campaign. Most of his salary cap owners would have hung on through thick and thin, but if you haven't got him he might make a nice underpriced POD option.
Everything comes up Dusty
On basic statistics, Dustin Martin's Brownlow year wasn't much different to the previous one, just booting one more goal per game - though that's a pretty difficult trick! He also added a centre clearance and an inside 50, improved his contested percentage by seven points and made top three for metres gained. Dusty reversed a recent trend by rotating forward a lot more, with 60% of his disposals in the front half. The fact that Martin finished tenth for fantasy average the last two years running despite gaining seven points tells you that expectations are higher for midfielders now, and Dusty fulfilled them all in 2017. Will he still have the hunger going into a new year? He deserves the benefit of the doubt, particularly as he went ten points better against finalists last season so the tougher fixture won't bother him. A first-rounder for sure.
Martin sinks the boot in
Dustin Martin is almost Judd-like in the way he can always get his hands free, and throws off tacklers with ease. Is extremely strong for an 18 year old, especially in the core.
Although some may be disappointed in his overall output this year (averaging 65.9 in DT and 77.5 in SC), in recent weeks he has really stepped up his scoring especially in Supercoach scoring 83, 98 and 99 in the last 3 weeks. His scoring in Supercoach is normally above his Dream Team, meaning he gets his own ball and uses the ball well.
He looks to have an extremely damaging long right boot, and is extremely capable on his left. He always tends to have an impact even when he isn't getting too much, with his ability to win clearances and use his long kick to break the lines.
Although Martin is having a somewhat disappointing year after his amazing pre-season, there is no doubt he will be an extremely good fantasy player in years to come.
