Dustin Martin

🔥 Dustin Martin 😍

Dustin Martin 👍🏾

FLASHBACK 2009 DRAFT

PICK 3 (Richmond): Dustin Martin
FROM: Bendigo Pioneers
GAMES PLAYED FOR RICHMOND: 289

This was an actual sliding doors moment when Jordan McMahon slotted the winning goal after the siren to deliver a win to Richmond over the Dees in an infamous encounter where many suspect Melbourne tanked.

As a result, Richmond was in a position to recruit Dustin Martin.

Martin had some issues in the early part of his career, but turned out to be a three-time Premiership player, three-time Norm Smith Medalist, Brownlow Medalist, four-time All Australian, Two Time Richmond Best and Fairest, Leigh Matthews Trophy Winner and is currently one, if not the biggest superstar in the game.

Don’t argue – Richmond won the 2009 draft.

FLASHBACK 2009 DRAFT

Dustin Martin was taken by Richmond at number three in Thursday's NAB AFL Draft, but still looked a little disappointed on Sunday morning when he turned up at Punt Rd in his new black and gold polo shirt.

The reason? He'd just been told that there was no training, it was just a meet and greet.

The 18-year-old is a ferocious worker who can't wait to begin his AFL career, but he was assured by a club official that by the time the Christmas break arrived, he'd be rapt to have some time off.

Martin told a media conference a little later on that he was hanging out to get started with his new club.

"I've had a look around and it looks pretty good - I just can't wait," he said.

"I met the coach on Thursday night, and I've met a few of the other boys who got picked up, too.

"I just can't wait to get out and start training."

Martin is an attacking midfielder with a terrific ability to win his own ball and use it off either side of his body.

He averaged 21 possessions per game for Vic Country at the NAB AFL U18 Championships, was made All-Australian and averaged 25 disposals (nine contested) in the TAC Cup.

At draft camp he was second in both the beep test (14.1) and the 20m sprint, and equal second in the kicking test.

He said he knew about a week before the draft the Tigers were going to take him with their first pick.

"They had a few mock drafts and stuff like that, but about a week before the draft, Francis (Jackson, recruiting manager), and the recruiting team came to Bendigo.

"We went and played some golf and had some lunch, and they told me they were going to take with their first pick.

"That was a big relief - it made it a bit easier going to the draft."

The Tigers finished 15th last season, and new coach Damien Hardwick has swept the place out, allowing the Tigers to recruit seven new faces in the draft.

That means plenty of opportunity for the new kids, and Martin said he was hoping to impress enough over the pre-season to get a start in round one.

"Definitely - I just want to get out on the track and listen to the coaches and my teammates and do what I've got to do, and we'll see what happens.

"I think they picked up seven players, so we're all in the same boat.

"We're building new facilities, there's new coaches - it's going to be really good, I can't wait."

Look Out 🐯 Here Comes Dustin Martin 2024 Brownlow Medalists 👍🏾

'A lot of footy left' in Dustin Martin ahead of 2024 season

Richmond are hopeful superstar Dustin Martin will extend his time with the Tigers beyond the end of 2024.

Richmond superstar Dustin Martin has "a lot of footy left in him" and the Tigers are hopeful of extending his deal.

A three-time premiership winner, Brownlow medallist and four-time All-Australian, Martin, 32, is out of contract at the end of 2024.

But the Tigers are hoping to extend the gun's stay beyond next year.

"There'll be conversations that Blair (Hartley, Richmond General Manager- Football Talent) would be already having with his management group about what he wants to do short- and long-term," Richmond National Recruiting Manager Matthew Clarke told AFL.com.au's Gettable Draft Countdown on Thursday.

"Dustin's a fantastic preparer of his own body so he's still got a lot of footy left in him so it's not like he's going to come back and maybe look to be one and done.

"He's got a really good understanding of what he needs to do to get fit and he prepares as well as anybody so conversations will be had there for sure about hopefully extending his time with us."

Club-by-club AFL fixture report card: Who cashed in, who got dudded in 2024 draw

The pros, cons and a grade, with a higher grade meaning an easier draw.

Grade: C-

RICHMOND

Games played against...

Top eight: 11
Top four: 5
Bottom 10: 12
Bottom four: 6

Who they play twice: Carlton, Fremantle, Gold Coast Suns, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, St Kilda

Bye weeks: Round 6, Round 15

Average percentage of double-up opponents: 100.4% (sixth-easiest)

Analysis: Not as much primetime love for the Tigers to start the season. The only other primetime slot besides the traditional Round 1 Thursday clash against Carlton is a trip to Adelaide to face the Crows. However that doesn’t include the traditional Anzac Eve clash against Melbourne, which next year lands on a Wednesday night. The Tigers also have two five-day breaks early in the year: Between Opening Round and Round 1 then between Rounds 12 and 13. They’ll also host a match at Marvel Stadium – against Marvel Stadium tenants St Kilda – in Round 22, while they’ll travel to GMHBA Stadium to face Geelong for premiership points for the first time since 2017. Then there’s three trips to Adelaide (including Gather Round), two to Perth and two to Queensland. On the bright side, they have two hat-tricks of MCG clashes (Round 1-3 and 7-9) early in the year before five straight games in Melbourne to end the season – and three of those games are against bottom-four teams from 2023.

2024 who we face twice Dustin Martin

Tigers' 2024 AFL fixture launched
The AFL has today announced the 2024 AFL fixture, with timeslots confirmed for Richmond's opening 14 rounds.

Richmond’s 2024 AFL fixture has been confirmed, with fans set to benefit from two hat-tricks of MCG clashes (Round 1-3 and 7-9) in the opening parts of the season.

The Tigers will also come home with five straight games in Melbourne to end the campaign, in a fixture that includes home marquee Anzac Day Eve and Dreamtime clashes.

After heading to the Gold Coast in the new-look Opening Round, Richmond will meet Carlton at the MCG in the traditional Thursday night slot on March 14, followed by home Sunday twilight games against Port Adelaide and Sydney.

Both clashes will be held at the ‘G, as will all of Richmond’s home matches in 2024 except for the Round 22 game against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.

Richmond will play the Saints twice this year, with the first clash to be at Norwood Oval as part of Gather Round.

The other five teams Richmond double-up against in 2024 are Gold Coast (Round 1 and 24), Carlton (2 and 16), Port Adelaide (3 and 19), Fremantle (8 and 17) and Hawthorn (14 and 23).

Richmond travels west to face West Coast in Round 5 before consecutive home matches at the MCG against Melbourne, Fremantle, and Western Bulldogs.

The Round 7 match against Melbourne on Anzac Day Eve will be an important chance to honour soldiers past and present for their sacrifices to Australia.

It will also be senior coach Adem Yze’s first match against the club he played 271 games for and was involved in a drought-breaking premiership as a senior assistant coach in 2021.

Richmond will play under Saturday night lights for four straight weeks across Rounds 9-12, including a trip to Brisbane, the 20th annual Dreamtime clash, and a road trip to Geelong.

The trip down the highway to face the Cats at GMHBA Stadium will be Richmond’s first match for premiership points at the venue since 2017.

Richmond will play a prime-time Thursday night fixture against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on June 6, broadcast live on Channel 7 before hosting the Hawks in Round 14.

The Tigers will have their mid-season bye in Round 15, with timeslots for fixtures from Round 16-24 to be announced later next year.

Richmond will host Carlton (Round 16), GWS (18), St Kilda (22) and Gold Coast (24) in that period.

The Tigers will also travel to Perth and Adelaide to meet Fremantle (17) and Port Adelaide (19) in the final third of the year.

Richmond will face reigning premiers Collingwood in a marquee clash at the ‘G in Round 20. There are also clashes against North Melbourne (Marvel Stadium) and Hawthorn (MCG) in Rounds 21 and 23.

In Summary, Richmond will play 13 matches at the MCG and two at Marvel Stadium, Optus Stadium and Adelaide Oval, as well as fixtures at The Gabba, Norwood Oval, Heritage Bank Stadium and GMHBA Stadium.

Richmond has been scheduled for eight games on Channel 7 and six exclusively to FOX FOOTY as part of the fixtured 14 matches to start the year. Dustin Martin

2024 Fixture Dustin Martin

Pencil It In Dustin Martin

Richmond head to Gold Coast for Opening Round

The AFL has revealed that Richmond will take on Gold Coast to open season 2024.
Dustin Martin

Gold Coast boss hints at potential Dustin Martin move

“Hopefully he likes playing in Darwin.”

Gold Coast Suns CEO Mark Evans has hinted the club will be prepared to make a move for 2024 free agent Dustin Martin if he remains unsigned late into next year.

Martin was continuously tied to the Carrara club over the course of this season, with speculation surrounding the triple Norm Smith Medal winner increasing following the appointment of ex-Tigers coach and Martin's close mentor Damien Hardwick as the Suns' replacement for the departed Stuart Dew.

The Richmond superstar's lucrative seven-year deal is set to expire in 2024, making Martin an unrestricted free at the conclusion of his 15th campaign at Punt Road.

Martin had turned down the potential option to head north and reunite with Hardwick for the latter's first year at the helm of the Suns, instead deciding to see out the final term of his deal and likely become the next Tiger to reach the 300-game mark in the yellow and black.

Gold Coast will be ready to make their move next year if Martin doesn't sign an extension with Richmond however, with Evans hoping the champion Tiger "likes playing in Darwin".

"I guess it's been speculated because of his relationship with Damien Hardwick and I know he's out of contract at the end of [next] year," Evans said at the press announcement of the club's new playing deal in the Northern Territory on Monday.

"If no contract is done with Richmond, that obviously means there's a chance to talk with him.

"Hopefully he likes playing in Darwin."

The Tigers themselves are preparing their own move to have Martin on their books for 2025, with their own CEO in Brendon Gale hoping an extension can be struck "in the not too distant future".

Gale told News Corp of his hopes that Martin sees himself as a one-club player following a strong 2023 season where he earned a spot in the All-Australian squad.

"Dustin is a great of our club and fully invested in helping us write the next chapter – clearly we will have discussions with his management in the not too distant future," Gale told the publication.

"He played some exceptional football last season. Change creates energy and I have no doubt Dustin feels that – he is a really important and valued part of our club."

Should Martin play a further 11 games for Richmond next year, he'll become the seventh Tiger to play 300 matches for the club, following premiership teammates Shane Edwards, Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt in doing so.

“SOMEWHAT OF A SURPRISE”: CORNES REACTS TO Dustin Martin CONTRACT REPORTS

Richmond are set to open contract talks with three-time Norm Smith Medallist Dustin Martin.

The seven-year mega-deal signed by the superstar in 2017 is set to expire at the end of the 2024 season, but the Tigers are getting on the front foot to tie the 32-year-old to the club for life.

While the midfielder has been linked to a move north to join ex-coach Damien Hardwick on the Gold Coast, Richmond CEO Brendon Gale told the Herald Sun that the club will begin discussions with Martin’s management about 2025 and beyond shortly.

Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes was a huge fan of Martin’s 2024 season but he believes talks should be put on ice until mid-year.

After Richmond finished 13th in 2023, Cornes can’t see Martin playing in Richmond’s next premiership and he’s unsure whether the midfielder will be motivated playing in a team that may not taste success in the next few years.

“Richmond are poised to open up contract extension talks with superstar midfielder Dustin Martin who had a great year last year,” Cornes said.

“It is somewhat of a surprise (because of reports linking him to Gold Coast).

“I think it's just a bit early. It's just a bit early for both (club and player).

“If I was Dustin Martin, I'd just be happy to wait perhaps till mid-year.

“I don't know him, but he feels like the player who's not going to be motivated playing in a team that's losing a lot and that's where I think Richmond are going to be.

“I could be completely wrong on that … but that's why I would wait.”

While Cornes doesn’t think signing Martin long-term is a risk for Richmond, he pondered whether the club could benefit from the superstar departing.

Even though the side would no doubt be worse on-field immediately following a departure, Cornes pondered whether the club could reset with some cap space and draft picks heading their way in a trade.

“For Richmond, I'd wait as well. I don't think there's much risk in going again with Dustin Martin. But what if you could get a good draft pick for him?” Cornes asked.

“What if you could clear up some space? What if you did need a bit of a reset?

“It might be the ideal time to send Dustin Martin off after 300 games.

“I just think to do it now before the season has started would be a bit premature.

“I'm on the fence here. I'm not calling it one way or the other than to say I’d just put it on the back burner if I was Dustin and I'd put it on the back burner perhaps until around Round 11 or 12 if I were the Tigers.”

Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy was fully in support of Richmond’s push to re-sign their man and he hopes Martin retires a one-club legend.

“I don't see a win for the Tigers in getting rid of Dustin,” Healy said.

“I'm with Brendon Gale on this. Sign him up, make him a long-term (offer).

“There's no Richmond side that's better to watch than one that's got Dustin Martin in it.”

Martin has played 289 games for the Tigers. He averaged 23.6 disposals and 1.1 goals from 20 games in the 2023 season.

Richmond set to open contract extension talks with superstar midfielder Dustin Martin

Dustin Martin will complete his current contract at the end of next season and has been linked with a shift to the Gold Coast. But the Tigers are planning to keep him in yellow and black for life.

Richmond is poised to open contract extension talks with superstar midfielder Dustin Martin.

The triple Norm Smith medallist will complete his current seven-year deal at the end of next season and has been linked to a shift to the Gold Coast Suns where former coach Damien Hardwick has taken charge.

But the Tigers are confident Martin is keen to play out his career at Punt Rd.

“Dustin is a great of our club and fully invested in helping us write the next chapter – clearly we will have discussions with his management in the not too distant future,” Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale said.

“2024 will be a really exciting year for both the club and himself. His 300th game will be a great occasion but knowing Dustin he will be far more focused on the regeneration of this team under (new coach) Adem Yze.

“He played some exceptional football last season. Change creates energy and I have no doubt Dustin feels that – he is a really important and valued part of our club.”

Martin, 32, finished runner-up in Richmond’s best-and-fairest this season behind Greater Western Sydney recruit Tim Taranto and is just 11 matches shy of the 300-game milestone.

He signed a monster seven-year, $9 million deal on the eve of the 2017 finals before leading the Tigers to three flags in four years.

Just six players – Kevin Bartlett, Jack Dyer, Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Francis Bourke and Shane Edwards – have played 300 or more games for the Tigers.

Yze is expected to introduce a revamped game style next season based on the method deployed by his former club Melbourne.

Star forward Tom Lynch is on track to make a full recovery from a broken foot that ruined his 2023 season, while young defender Josh Gibcus is also on the mend after missing the entire year with a damaged hamstring tendon.

Onya Benny Dustin Martin 👍🏾

🔒 in 🐯 vs 😇 Dustin Martin

‘Scared the s**t out of me’: When Trent Cotchin ‘didn’t want to associate’ with Dustin Martin

Retired Richmond great Trent Cotchin went to great lengths in his career to forge an identity he describes as “a pretty cleanskin kind of guy”.

It was a largely successful pursuit for the midfielder, who retired at the end of last season following 306 games, a Brownlow Medal and three premierships for the Tigers.

So his association and eventual close friendship with polar opposite Dustin Martin wasn’t part of the planning.

That’s Martin of course of the countless tattoos, number of run-ins with officialdom and father Shane, who died in 2021 and was once part of the Rebels motorcycle gang.

Cotchin admits he “didn’t want to associate” with Martin when he arrived at Punt Road ahead of the 2010 season, Cotchin’s third with the Tigers.

It was also during Ben Cousins’ time at the club, with the former West Coast star spending two years with the Tigers after his 12-month ban over an arrest for drug possession in Perth before retiring after that 2010 season.

“It’s kind of black and white. The tattoo guy that has a little bit of attitude, comes across like he doesn’t give a s**t to anything or anyone in the world,” Cotchin told Sarah Grynberg on her A Life Of Greatness podcast.

“And then I’m this other guy trying to make everyone happy and no tattoos and pretty cleanskin kind of guy. Less partying.

“And when he first came in it was kind of like, he had the tattoo that was on the back of all the Ben Cousins stuff.

“I think Dusty’s said ‘Live free, die free’, obviously “Cuzzy” had ‘Such is life’ across his stomach.

“So he already had been tarred with this bad-boy brush, which I kind of didn’t want to associate with, to be fair.

“It wasn’t like I distanced myself or didn’t talk to him in the early stages of his career, but it was just like ‘oh, we’re different, he’s obviously got some great talent and we’ll be great mates on the footy field but outside of that we’ll wait and see’.

“Going through that process of learning about him and his back story and the relationship we forged, I can’t imagine living the life that he lived growing up as compared to what mine was.

“But that was what made it so beautiful, kind of understanding each other and learning more about him and what made him tick and then establishing how connected he is to this spiritual part of the world, which I don’t think anyone would ever believe me.”

Martin was caught up in a number of off-field incidents early in his career, perhaps most famously when he apologised after threatening a woman with a chopstick at a Melbourne restaurant back in December 2015.

Cotchin recalls “the odd occasion where Dusty ended up in the papers for an argument at a restaurant” and it resulted in himself and wife Brooke inviting Martin to move in with them.

“He obviously liked the idea and came along and I think that was a period in his life when he was probably in one of his lower points,” Cotchin said.

“I’ll never forget the day that his old man came over as well because Shane was a humungous Maori man, tattoos all over his face, his body, so a pretty scary and daunting kind of character.

“But for whatever reason, when he walked in our door I felt so much safer in my own home.”

Cotchin said they really began to bond during this period.

He spoke about a night Martin couldn’t sleep about 1am and woke Cotchin up to go for a walk and "scared the s**t out of me”.

“But they were the moments that started to really make our relationship go deep.”

Cotchin gave some more insights into the notoriously shy and reclusive Martin’s character, including his obsession with a documentary called Heal, which is about a scientific and social journey for the human body to heal itself.

While Cotchin has been busy promoting the release of his own book, From The Heart, the 33-year-old encouraged Martin to write a memoir of his life.

“I remember he had come over one day and he was just hellbent on Brooke and I watching this documentary and it was called Heal,” Cotchin said.

“He was like ‘this is amazing, you don’t need any kind of medication, you can heal yourself from within’.

“With all due respect, I must’ve been tired that day, and I think it was after one of our kids had been born, so I fell asleep towards the end of it.

“But it was about the fifth time he’d watched it and he was just obsessed with it, but that was the kind of spiritual connection he has.

“He got right into yoga and then when he had his injury more recently with his (lacerated) kidney (in 2021), he did this grape and fruit diet where he lost 12, 13 kilos because of these ‘wizards’ from overseas that he’d been following on Instagram.

“He wasn’t scared of trying those sorts of things ... these are all the things that he was connecting to and were an important part of him feeling his best.

“I do hope that at some stage in his lifetime that he goes deeper on his whole story.

“I think he’s written a book and it’s probably more pictures and people speaking about his journey rather than him actually talking to it.

“But it would be an interesting read.”

What if Dustin Martin became a Giant at the end of 2013?

What would the past and present look like if Dusty had become a Giant?

What if 'Dusty' traded Punt Road for Sydney at the end of 2013?

Despite lending a vast quantity of this series to recounting errors, mistakes and regrets, when it comes to running a fine-toothed comb through the Tigers' coat, their sliding door was one that did so to safety.

With a trio of premiership cups having been placed in the cabinet at Punt Road since 2017, this contemporary era has been Richmond's most lustrous since the mid-70s.

Although their list, coaching staff and board have worked wonders to rid the club of its previously mocked identity, it has been the work of one heavily inked and highly skilled man who has led the way in giving the Tigers back their roar.

However, had things panned out differently at the end of the 2013 season, and the kibosh not been put on a killer deal, there was a very real possibility that Richmond's 1980 flag may have been the most recent flying at Tigerland.

Having been taken with the 3rd pick of the 2010 AFL Draft, Dustin Martin had long been rated highly by the brass at Punt Road.

After making his debut in the number 36 guernsey, the man with Maori heritage would go on to change his locker and hairstyle, but not his brilliance, over the next 11 seasons.

Still, by the time the yellow and black army were bested by a side that ironically finished ninth in the 2013 finals series, Martin and his management had set their sights on a financially sound, orange sunset.

After reportedly turning down a deal that would see the Bendigo Pioneers product net around $600,000 per annum as a Tiger, Martin and his manager, Ralph Carr, jetted north to the Harbour City's west after receiving word that the competition's youngest side was willing to up the ante with a mega deal.

In spite of the fact that Martin would eventually return to the Tigers' on a smaller deal than first negotiated, what would his career have looked like if he had traded yellow and black for orange and charcoal?

Would his mantel remain as decorated?

Would Richmond have broken their drought?

Would the Giants' big, big sound have become a more familiar tune in late September?

With a multitude of directions available for us to travel, to truly get to the bottom of this nightmarish reality for troops of the Tiger Army, we'll need to begin by answering the most concrete questions.

Firstly, had Martin packed his bags and jaunted north to join the Giants in 2014, would Richmond have been left worse for wear? The simple, and obvious, answer here is yes, they absolutely would have.

Secondly, would the Giants have then in turn become a better team? Again, the answer is relatively straightforward.

Prior to Round 1, 2014, Dustin Martin had played 86 out of a possible 89 games for Richmond and had scored 7.61 per cent of the Tiger's goals across his four years in the league.

At that stage, Martin was still a pair of years away from flexing his inked biceps on the competition, as evidenced by lack of individual awards won.

Now, we all know that Damien Hardwick eventually raised Martin's midfield minutes, and the now 32-year-old would rise to the task and never look back, but what if he had made a geographical move before he had been afforded a positional switch?

Ahead of the 2014 season – the club's third in the league – GWS had a litany of names that could run through the engine room, including Callan Ward, Adam Treloar, Dylan Shiel, Devon Smith, Toby Greene, Stephen Coniglio, Tom Scully and Lachie Whitfield.

Granted none of these names had elevated themselves to total prominence by this point, but with such a lengthy list at his disposal, where would the newly appointed Leon Cameron have deployed Martin had he joined his arsenal that summer?

As a side that had only managed 221 goals in 2013, Martin's tally of 23 in the same season was worth the value of 10.41 per cent of the Giants' total majors. For this reason, one would have to imagine that Martin would have likely been asked to play significant periods forward of the ball for a side that was coming off back-to-back wooden spoons.

If this was the case, then an argument can be made that had Martin made the move to Breakfast Point, his career, theoretically at least, could have actually been stunted.

Still, as the Richmond dynamo has gone on to cement himself as possibly the greatest name of his era so far, there is a more than fair counterpoint that would suggest Martin would have dominated no matter which colours he wore or where he stood on the field.

There is also another, saner, view that Cameron would have read from the same playbook as ‘Dimma', and that ‘Dusty's' midfield minutes would have climbed at Homebush as well.

Having now played 289 games for the same club that drafted him, Martin's record-breaking trifecta of Norm Smith medals suggest one thing – he has been Richmond's greatest weapon at the stage when one was most needed.

Yet, had Martin been a fourth-year Giant by the time the Tigers had broken a 37-year premiership drought, would the long-awaited rains have fallen Punt Road Oval at all?

Across Richmond's rise and rise between 2016 and the Covid-condensed 2020 season, the club claimed three flags after compiling a record of 79 wins, 45 losses and a singular draw.

Throughout this 117-game stretch, Martin managed to lace the boots on 113 occasions.

Across this portion of performances, the 2017 Brownlow medallist collected 118 Brownlow votes, meaning that on average, ‘Dusty' was one of the best three players on the ground each and every week.

Just let that sink in

If any side lost a player of this calibre, their performance would naturally dip. And as Martin has a reputation of showing up when Richmond needs him most, would the Tigers have managed to have hopped their many post-season hurdles without their superstar?

Had Martin been absent during September of 2017, there is an argument that the Tigers may not have beaten the Giants in that year's preliminary final.

And as the man in question showed up to kick three goals in the space of 10 minutes and put the game to bed early in the final term, had Martin been wearing orange that day, the tale could very well have had an alternative ending.

With a performance that saw him slot 2.2 and boot the Sherrin inside 50 on four occasions during a game decided by just over three goals, had Martin also been missing during the 2019 prelim' in which the Tigers clawed back from 21 points down at half-time against the Cats, then another strong case can be made that they may have bowed out early again.

Once more, had Martin been unavailable during the 2020 Grand Final – another contest in which they trailed the Moggs by 21 points before he stamped his influence – then yet another chance could have been squandered.

Again, we are sure that we have stroked the Tiger of old's fur in the wrong direction, but this exercise has not been enacted in the vain effort to label Richmond's dynasty built by a ‘one-man team', it has simply been completed to highlight how pivotal the mystifying Martin really is.

It is also for all of these reasons that had ‘Dusty' packed his bags and joined the Giants a decade ago, it would be a safe bet to say that the league's youngest franchise would almost certainly have some silverware to their name.

However, as history – and reality – have shown us, Martin remained a Tiger, and as long as he still calls Punt Road home, his side is never beaten until the final siren sounds - even when we try to move the goalposts.