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AFL icon Dustin Martin is one of the Richmond Tigers’ most popular players and for good reason. The star played during one of Richmond’s best eras, winning three premierships with the club.
The living legend is not enjoying the Tiger’s current form and their run of losses this season. However, Richmond Tigers coach Adem Yze believes that Martin could play a central role in helping the team rebuild to its premiership form.
By helping speed up the development of the younger players in the club, he can create a truly lasting legacy. In a recent interview with The Australian, Yze said:
“I think if you look at Shai Bolton’s form, Dusty’s got a fair bit to say in the way that he’s playing. He’s trying to impart his knowledge so the lasting legacy that Dustin Martin can have at this footy club is upskilling our younger players.
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“So Shai looks up to him, a lot of our younger forwards look up to him, so for him to be able to teach them at training and obviously give them some insights on high performance and the way that he did it, like, they just soak it up."
He concluded:
“So if he could do that for our players for the next few years would be a lasting legacy, and I know he enjoys it, but our players are just soaking that up.”
The Tigers are dealing with a losing season as well as a high number of injured players.
Despite the gloomy situation, Yze is optimistic about the future of the club and has high hopes on the role Dustin will play in rebuilding the team’s form and morale.
The Tigers have struggled through 2024
The Tigers have been struggling to put forward a team that can compete for the premiership.
The main hindrance to this has been their lengthy list of injured Tigers players. However, that gives younger players the opportunity to gain experience and improve their game, which has made Yze quite optimistic.
“I’m envisaging six weeks’ time when we get a lot of our players back. The selection is going to be really hard based on what our young players are showing,” Yze said.
“They’re getting the opportunity through adversity and to watch Thomson Dow today play against a quality midfield felt like he took a step forward in his career."
He concluded:
“Seth Campbell is getting opportunities, Maurice Rioli jnr - he looks powerful, he looks dangerous around goals. So the more that we can give those guys opportunities, which we have to right now, the future’s going to be bright for them when we get everyone back available.
"There is a silver lining in the fact they’re getting an opportunity. Tom Brown is taking his game step by step.”
Yze was excited about Maurice Rioli’s development but was realistic about his current form and that he has work to do to become one of the best small forwards in the league.
“His pressure and intensity and work rate is very good,” Yze said. "And he did finish a couple of times today but there’ll be opportunities that he’s going to look at and go, ‘Kozzy Pickett finishes his work’, and that’s where he’s got to get to.”
Hugo Ralphsmith was also on his mind. The player recently had his second match in 2024 during which he displayed one of the best performances of his career with a personal record 21 disposals.
“He not only held his own, but he looked like an A-grade winger today for sure,” Yze added.
