Dustin Martin owed AFL nothing but his Richmond return had everything

On those rare occasions when things aren’t going Dustin Martin’s way on the football field, he repeats three words to himself: Strong. Aggressive. Unstoppable. It’s staggering, really. He has all the talent, all the medals, and all the money in the world. An entire football club was built around him. An entire competition was unable to lay a glove on him. He had an oaken constitution, and the perfect physique for his sport. Even in the ad breaks, he was swanning about in his underwear, seemingly without a care in the world. Turns out he was like so many of us – riven by anxiety, propping himself up, blocking out the noise. Though it’s hard to imagine two more different men, one is reminded of an old Paul Keating quote. “Underneath it all, I’m really scared. My knees are knocking. I’m like a bowl of warm spaghetti.”

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Martin began the 2021 season being talked about in the same breath as Matthews, Carey and Ablett. He finished it on the boundary line at the Gabba, in child’s pose, being misdiagnosed by the physicians at Channel 7. If you’ve played footy at any level, it was one of those incidents where you thank Christ you’ve hung up the boots. Kidneys don’t take kindly to laceration. He spent a week in hospital, subsisting on bananas, dates and YouTube clips. He lost about two stone. By year’s end, he was mourning his dad. At 30, there was a very real chance he was lost to football. The gossip columnists licked their chops. But the club, and football fans generally, gave him space. He owed the game nothing. There was nothing more to achieve, or prove.

On Saturday however, he was back. As always, he didn’t exactly present like a man whose