Dustin Martin

Dustin Martin (born 26 June 1991) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

After a year in Sydney, Martin moved back to Victoria to live with his mother by late December 2007.

He did not return to school however, instead working three days a week for a local electrical contractor before a short stint as stonemason.

In addition to some time playing cricket as a fast bowler for Guildford, Martin returned to his goal of playing in the AFL.

He trained with Castlemaine's senior side over his first summer back and within four matches had impressed enough to be asked back into the Bendigo Pioneer's junior program.

He continued to play for Castlemaine for most of the season, winning the Bendigo Football League's rising star award that year.

He also played four matches for the Pioneers TAC Cup team in a month that began to earn him the attention of AFL recruiters.

He returned to the Pioneers side the following year and became a stand-out player.

Across 11 games with Bendigo, Martin would average 24.7 disposals and 9.7 contested possessions.

He also ranked first at the club for disposals, contested possessions, clearances, inside-50s and score assists despite playing so few games, and placed second at the club's best and fairest awards night.

Martin went on to be named at centre in the TAC Cup's team of the year.

At an earlier age, Martin was overlooked for state representative football, missing out on the 2007 under-16 national championships as well as at the under-18 carnival the next year.

Martin gained the attention of AFL scouts from as early as 2008, with 's recruiting boss Kinnear Beatson contacting Martin in an attempt to commit him to the club.

This was on the back of a previous attempt to join the club's junior academy program.

He was however just two months too young to qualify for that year's draft and remained ineligible for the Swans' academy program.

Martin was drafted by Richmond with the third pick in the 2009 national draft, and made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2010 season.

Martin did, however, play for Victoria Country in the 2009 AFL Under 18 Championships, averaging 21.4 touches, 7.2 contested possessions and 0.8 goals in the five games he played.

In the final match of the competition, he recorded 28 disposals and five clearances against Western Australia.

He was rewarded for his efforts at the championships with a selection at centre in the tournament's All-Australian team.

When his draft year arrived in 2009 the Swans were again interested in drafting him, hoping he would fall to their selection at number six.

He was nominated for the 2010 AFL Rising Star award, but was ineligible to win due to suspension.

Martin won the Jack Dyer Medal as Richmond's best and fairest player in 2016, along with his first All-Australian selection.

To date, Martin has won three premierships, two Jack Dyer Medals and four All-Australian selections among other individual accolades, and has also won several major best-on-ground awards.

In each of his three premiership years, he won the Norm Smith Medal as best afield in the grand final (Martin is the only player to win the award three times) and the Gary Ayres Award as the player of the finals series.

In 2017, Martin had what was described by AFL legend Leigh Matthews as the greatest-ever individual season by a VFL/AFL player.

Despite constant speculation over his playing future, Martin won the league's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal, with a record 36 votes, as well as a premiership and the Norm Smith Medal, becoming the first player to win all three in a single season.

He also won numerous other accolades, including the Leigh Matthews Trophy, the AFLCA champion player of the year award and his second Jack Dyer Medal.

Martin was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, to a Māori father, Shane Martin, and an Australian mother, Kathy Knight.

His father has family connections to the Ngāti Maru tribe on New Zealand's north island.

Martin is one of three boys, alongside brothers Tyson and Bronson.

Martin first took up football at age six, learning the sport with the local Auskick program.

He would also play regularly with his brothers on their self-constructed field in one of the paddocks at his family's three acre home in Yapeen.

From there he played junior football for Campbell's Creek, before spending time with the Bendigo Pioneers under 15 squad.

His parents separated when he was 14 and Martin moved to Sydney with his father, leaving school at Castlemaine High School after Year 9 and taking up full-time work.

He worked various roles at his father's transport business including as a forklift driver while also assisting his father's girlfriend's sports apparel business.

In total he worked regular twelve hour days, later saying he hated "working long days" in what was "not a very good job."

While in Sydney he continued to play football, starting off with the Ingleburn Magpies Junior Australian Football Club's under 16 side.

He stayed for just four matches however, dominating so comprehensively he was moved to the Campbelltown Football Club's under 18's team despite being aged only 15.

He even played for the club's senior team on one occasion that year.

At this time he enquired about joining the Sydney Swans junior academy, but found himself ineligible due to having not lived in Sydney for the required minimum three years.