Walks into the best finals side ever. Actually is carried in on a float. After that, all time, look, wanna say top 10 but there's been a lot of good players. Top 15-20 for me. Fair effort.
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Dustin Martin
- Thread starter Rosy
- Start date
He is the finals GOAT.
No way is he the regular season GOAT.
Pendleburys Harvey’s etc just were top 3-5 on the ground in hundreds of H&A games.
No way is he the regular season GOAT.
Pendleburys Harvey’s etc just were top 3-5 on the ground in hundreds of H&A games.
Yep, just like when you go to a restaurant, you don't fill up on bread, you wait for the main course, and dessert.
GOAT for me. I can understand that a few others are in the convo, but not many. Always performs, and lifts that performance commensurate to the stakes.
Wait for the end of his career. I would have him in a bunch of about 20 from different eras. Too hard to weigh them up.
CHF is the hardest spot on the ground and there have been a few pearlers. Hart and Carey for starters.
CHF is the hardest spot on the ground and there have been a few pearlers. Hart and Carey for starters.
He is the best player I've ever seen play.
He spent most of 2017 to 2021 looking like an AFL player taking on auskickers.
I've never seen someone so comprehensively, brutally and incisively remove the game from the opposition.
I compare him to a contemporary in Gary Ablett JR, and you can make an argument that GAJ was more consistent for longer, his numbers more impressive, while having the same impossible combination of inside and outside dominance which very few others have come close to. But Gary didn't have Dusty's aura. The absolute lethality of an untackleable wrecking ball who can use the Sherrin to carve through space like a surgical black hole. He creates instant vacuums in the lungs of opposition supporters.
Carey was closer. But Dusty would have sat Carey on his arse.
I can't speak for previous eras, and those comparisons are always so qualified that GOAT discussions are a little silly. 3 Norm Smith's is a little more objective.
Personally, I've never seen a player like him. Don't think I ever will.
He spent most of 2017 to 2021 looking like an AFL player taking on auskickers.
I've never seen someone so comprehensively, brutally and incisively remove the game from the opposition.
I compare him to a contemporary in Gary Ablett JR, and you can make an argument that GAJ was more consistent for longer, his numbers more impressive, while having the same impossible combination of inside and outside dominance which very few others have come close to. But Gary didn't have Dusty's aura. The absolute lethality of an untackleable wrecking ball who can use the Sherrin to carve through space like a surgical black hole. He creates instant vacuums in the lungs of opposition supporters.
Carey was closer. But Dusty would have sat Carey on his arse.
I can't speak for previous eras, and those comparisons are always so qualified that GOAT discussions are a little silly. 3 Norm Smith's is a little more objective.
Personally, I've never seen a player like him. Don't think I ever will.
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When does football matter more than in finals games? If you're the best finals player of all time then by default you are the best player of all time. Home and away performance is an insignificant comparison.
The pedestal Ablett Jnr is put up on amazes me. He was a damn good player for sure but his father was streets better, and is by far the best player I’ve ever seen. Even went to non Tiger games just to watch him. He WAS an unstoppable force.
Peak Carey the only thing I've seen close to Dusty and then Buddy trailing those two. Only caught the tail end of GA SNR but he probably should be there. Then there's everyone before that.
Then there is the onballers, you can throw a blanket over 20 of them. But those four are unique and almost impossible to replicate.
Gary Ablett SNR was a freak of an athlete and for pure football ability was simply a freak. He reminded me of a bush footballer who dominated because he was levels above the competition. Ablett did it against everyone. on his day he was simply unstoppable.
Martin was not at the same freak level as Gary Ablett SRN in his prime. However I doubt there has been anyone that has or will reach Martins level of Finals performance.
Martin was not at the same freak level as Gary Ablett SRN in his prime. However I doubt there has been anyone that has or will reach Martins level of Finals performance.
Plugger didn’t have a finals record nor the leadership qualities to put him at the top. Nor Buddy. But both extraordinary footballers.
Ablett Snr , Mathew’s, Bartlett and Dusty in a league of their own.
Hart should be there but career was cut short by injuries. But he could do it all.
Ablett Snr , Mathew’s, Bartlett and Dusty in a league of their own.
Hart should be there but career was cut short by injuries. But he could do it all.
It is a difficult conversation. I have seen Bartlett, Matthews, Plugger, Carey, 2x Ablett, Hart, and Dustin, and many others considered to be in the mix.
On any day any one of them would rip apart a game. Totally dominate. Bury the opposition and pee on their grave.
The evidence is there that Dusty is hungry for more; the early appearance at the club, the condition, the solo laps. In my opinion If we see peak Dusty this season, after all he has overcome, he can deservedly take the crown and declare himself King.
On any day any one of them would rip apart a game. Totally dominate. Bury the opposition and pee on their grave.
The evidence is there that Dusty is hungry for more; the early appearance at the club, the condition, the solo laps. In my opinion If we see peak Dusty this season, after all he has overcome, he can deservedly take the crown and declare himself King.
The way he sat up when they were speaking to Neale at the Brownlow about multiple Brownlow winners. I am most likely wrong but Dusty seemed to to be saying I accept the challenge.
Then he fronts up early to training........has me considering a early wager on him in the new year
Fox showed some of the great individual performances as full games during the first lockdown and I was astounded how much space these guys had to work with. Gary senior was amazing, no doubt, but I watched the game where he kicked 14 and Dustin would have done as he liked out there under what we would now consider extremely lax defending.
Dusty one out? In a paddock? With nothing but grass between him and the goals if he outmuscled his opponent and knocked the ball goal side? Every time he went forward? Money for jam.
GA, Lethal, Plugger et al would have been stars in any era, including ours, as Dusty would have been in there’s. But the 14’s were really today’s 9 or 10’s and the 10’s were really 5 or 6’s.
I have no doubt the great man would have kicked 700 or 800 in the 80’s or 90’s as a part time forward.
Dusty one out? In a paddock? With nothing but grass between him and the goals if he outmuscled his opponent and knocked the ball goal side? Every time he went forward? Money for jam.
GA, Lethal, Plugger et al would have been stars in any era, including ours, as Dusty would have been in there’s. But the 14’s were really today’s 9 or 10’s and the 10’s were really 5 or 6’s.
I have no doubt the great man would have kicked 700 or 800 in the 80’s or 90’s as a part time forward.
Dustin has a way of creating his own history... a Brownlow at 33, capped off by another flag and Norm later in the week would be a great way to move into the 2025 preseason!
Gee it's great to dream!
Still dunno if he gets in the AA team though!
Great post. In terms of aura, the only other players who had it in my lifetime are GA snr and Plugger, who were all media outsiders like Dusty. And I'd take Dusty over both of course. The media like to make a show of talking-down Dusty, leave him out of AA sides, brownlow betting etc, but I've never seen a player in the media saturation-era be as consistently revered and worshipped, often involuntarily and despite themselves, as Dusty.
There was a period, 2017-2021 in particular but even wider that that, when it seemed like every broadcast of every game and every interview would be talking Dusty. They could not help themselves! I love it.
Good post. Each individual game in 2017 produced a highlights reel that 200+ gamers couldn't match across their careers.
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