Sport
13 June, 2024
300 up for former Creek junior Martin
Former Campbells Creek junior Dustin Martin will play his 300th game of AFL football tomorrow, becoming the seventh Richmond footballer to reach the mark. Martin played a number of years in the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball...
Former Campbells Creek junior Dustin Martin will play his 300th game of AFL football tomorrow, becoming the seventh Richmond footballer to reach the mark.
Martin played a number of years in the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League as a junior with the Magpies, before embarking on his senior career at Castlemaine in the Bendigo Football Netball League, where his first senior coach was former Maryborough champion Jamie Elliott.
A documentary, commissioned by the Richmond Football Club on Martin’s career, was launched on Wednesday night ahead of the milestone, with a focus on Campbells Creek at the start, with Martin’s under 12 coach at the club, Steve Adamson interviewed to talk about his time coaching Martin as a junior.
Martin would eventually be drafted from the Bendigo Pioneers in 2009 with the third pick by the Tigers, and would quickly make his mark on the AFL.
In 2017, Martin embarked on what was one of the most perfect campaigns in football history, driving Richmond to a drought-breaking premiership thanks to a win in the Brownlow Medal with an equal-record 36 votes, followed by the Norm Smith Medal in the Tigers’ grand final win over Adelaide.
Martin’s status as a big game player would be further cemented in the 2019 and 2020 grand finals, winning two more Norm Smith Medals — making him the only player to have won three Norm Smiths.
Martin’s Tigers will take on Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.