AFL sends message to Richmond superstar Dustin Martin ahead of his milestone 300th game
The AFL has sent a congratulatory message to Richmond superstar Dustin Martin ahead of his 300th milestone game against Hawthorn on Saturday.
Martin will become the 104th AFL player to reach this milestone and the 43rd fastest to do so. As a one-club man, he is the 72nd to achieve this feat and is the seventh Tiger to do so.
When he debuted in 2010, only 62 players had reached the milestone, including notable names like Collingwood's legendary Gordon Coventry and Western Bulldogs' Brad Johnson.
Of the six other Richmond Tigers players to reach 300 games, Martin played with Jack Riewoldt (273 games), Trent Cotchin (257 games) and Shane Edwards (230 games) for extended periods.
In his time as an AFL player, the 2017 Brownlow medalist has set himself apart as a player willing to do anything and play anywhere to take his team to glory. Martin is a triple premiership star who remains the only player to win the Norm Smith medal and the Gary Ayres Award on three occasions respectively.
With his 36 votes in his Brownlow medal year, Dustin Martin holds the current record (shared with Oliver Wines) for the most votes in a season under the 3-2-1 voting system.
The 32-year-old has also been selected in the All-Australian team on four different occasions as well as being Richmond's best and fairest twice.
Ex-Richmond recruiting guru recounts how Martin was snagged
After drafting 300th-game milestone achiever Jack Riewoldt, recruiting manager Francis Jackson did it again by picking Dustin Martin in the AFL National Draft of 2009.
Recounting the entire draft experience on Richmond's Martin-focused documentary ‘Don’t Argue’, Jackson said:
“He just stood out as being a potential first-round pick, clearly, because of his talent — an early first-round pick.
We didn’t go all that well in ‘09, and we had pick 3. Melbourne had two picks prior to us, and we weren’t sure what they were going to do.”
“Sydney (was) very keen on Dustin, and they wanted to trade (picks) six and 14 for our pick 3,” he said.
“Now, normally you would discuss that, and you would take time (to make a decision), but we didn’t even discuss it — it was never going to happen.”
After information got out that the Melbourne Demons, who had priority picks, were ready to pick Tom Scully and Jack Trengove, Jackson said they ‘did something unusual’.
“I organised to have lunch with his mum and his grandma. I actually told them that we were taking Dustin at pick 3 — unless something radically changed — that Dusty was going to be a Tiger.”
Over the years, Martin has remained loyal to the Tigers, turning down multiple lucrative offers from rival clubs. While his future currently hangs in the balance, given he is in the final year of his contract, Richmond will undoubtedly remain grateful for his service to the club.