Young guns outshine Dustin Martin’s AFL return from serious kidney injury in Richmond pre-season win

Richmond star Dustin Martin has made a successful return as the Tigers beat Geelong by 18 points in their AFL practice match.

Martin played most of the four quarters on Saturday at GMHBA Stadium and while he was understandably rusty, still did plenty in the 17.8 (110) to 12.20 (92) win.

The match was supposed to go for six 30-minute periods, but the two senior teams left the field after the first four quarters were done.

Stream Seven's coverage of AFLW for free on 7plus >>

Mostly younger players had a run for the rest of the hitout.

It was Martin’s first game since he suffered a serious kidney injury last July, which put him in hospital and led to significant weight loss.

Martin’s gruelling pre-season program was put on hold in December when his father Shane died suddenly in New Zealand.

Ivan Soldo also returned after missing last season because of a knee injury, while Noah Balta made his first appearance since an ankle injury sidelined him in round 15 last year.

Tigers star Shai Bolton lit up the game and kicked three goals.

Former Richmond and Adelaide player Tyson Stengle made an eye-catching debut for the Cats, kicking four goals.

If you’d like to view this content, please adjust your .

To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide.

Geelong have thrown Stengle a lifeline after the talented small forward’s career was at the crossroads because of off-field incidents.

As the scoreline suggests, Geelong had plenty of chances and led by a goal at three-quarter time before Richmond kicked six goals to two in the last.

After missing the finals series last year, Cats best and fairest defender Tom Stewart returned and was solid.

Shaun Higgins had more time in the middle, while captain Joel Selwood