AS FOOTBALL farewells one of its greatest players, take a few minutes to look back on the brilliant career of Richmond champion Dustin Martin.
From the stilted, shy words of a young superstar in waiting, to the Norm Smith Medal heroics, and the 300-game milestone that packed out the MCG, football is unlikely to see a player of Martin's ilk again.
Relive the great memories, the unbelievable highlights and the occasional words from Martin himself as we reflect on a truly legendary career.
Left in his Dust: Why Dustin Martin is history's best big-game player
Thousands have played football at the highest level. Very few have become premiership players, though. Even fewer have won Norm Smiths. To be the best player in football's biggest contest is an honour reserved for only the game's very elite. Simply winning one is an achievement that any ex-footballer can dine out on for a lifetime.
To win three, though. Well, that should be impossible. But just ask any Richmond fan; Dustin Martin has spent the best part of the last decade turning what had once seemed the unbelievable into reality.
On the eve of Martin's landmark 300th game, AFL.com.au spoke to a handful of the game's most respected Norm Smith medallists to gauge the enormity of the Richmond superstar's three Grand Final performances and to pose the question: Is this the greatest big-game performer Australian Football has ever seen?
>> READ RILEY BEVERIDGE'S 300-GAME FEATURE HERE
WATCH: The milestone moment that rocked the MCG
Unpacking Dusty: The enduring genius of footy's private superstar
THE PARADOX of Dustin Martin is that we simultaneously know everything and nothing about him. The AFL's best footballer is both iconic and reclusive, imitable and completely inimitable, in the orbit of the public on Punt Road yet truly out of reach.
The competition's greatest entertainer and most well-known player remains a private figure off the field, rarely giving interviews and forgoing the spotlight for others. And yet he already has a record even the most vague football supporters can reel off at the drop of a 'don't argue': three premierships, three Norm Smith Medals and a Brownlow Medal. And possibly more to come.
This week he will play his 250th game for Richmond when the Tigers tackle Melbourne on Saturday night. He has reached the milestone with incredible speed, leaving those close to him to believe he could join the 400 club in years to come.
>> READ CAL TWOMEY'S PROFILE OF DUSTIN MARTIN HERE
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Dusty in his own words
In May 2011, Dustin Martin granted a rare one-on-one interview to Callum Twomey for the AFL Record and AFL.com.au. As the Richmond superstar prepares for his 300th game on Saturday, take a look back at Martin's words as a 19-year-old in his second AFL season, just coming to terms with the unrelenting glare of the football spotlight.
IN THE past two weeks, we have seen Dustin Martin, in his inimitable way, dominate games of football like few players are capable of doing. But for all the acclaim - he seems to be everyone's new favourite player - Martin doesn't care for the attention.
"I don't really care about what other people think," he said last week when we met at Richmond's ME Bank Centre. "It's not something I think about too much."
>> READ CAL TWOMEY'S FULL DUSTIN MARTIN INTERVIEW HERE
WATCH: The very best of Dustin Martin
Dusty's greatest hits: We rank all 16 of Martin's finals matches
DUSTIN Martin's greatest hits as a master of the big stage came during a peerless run of form between 2017 and 2020, when he played 13 of his 16 finals.
They are a collection of games that are treasured by the yellow and black, including three Grand Final masterclasses that resulted in a historic three Norm Smith medals.
As Martin prepared for his 300th game, against Hawthorn at the MCG, AFL.com.au ranked the Tiger champion's 'sweet 16' September appearances.
>> CHECK OUT NATHAN SCHMOOK'S RANKINGS HERE
WATCH: Norm Smith Medal No.1: 2017
WATCH: Norm Smith Medal No.2: 2019
WATCH: Norm Smith Medal No.3: 2020
WATCH: Don't Argue: The Dustin Martin Story
Ahead of Martin's 300th game, the Richmond Football Club released a 25-minute documentary celebrating the extraordinary career of one of the greatest Tigers of all. Watch the full doco below.