RICHMOND has challenged Dustin Martin to continue his career-best form against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday in the face of a looming tag from Mitch Robinson.
Martin hit the bye in outstanding form and used his break to travel across the Tasman and visit his father, who was deported to New Zealand over alleged links to a motorcycle group pre-season.
Coach Damien Hardwick said he didn't expect his gun midfielder to let up against Robinson, whose opponents in the past month have included Matt Priddis, Bryce Gibbs and Lachie Neale.
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"It's going to be a challenge for 'Dusty' but he's risen to the challenge before and we've put it firmly on him to make sure he beats Mitch Robinson," Hardwick said on Friday.
"Robinson's been outstanding in nullifying some great opponents over the last three weeks and managing to get a lot of the ball himself.
"He had a fantastic game opposed to Matt Priddis last week and probably got three Brownlow votes.
"We're looking forward to Dusty rising to the challenge against Mitch in what will be a tough encounter."
Martin was the star in Richmond's round 12 win over Gold Coast and has racked up an equal career-high 38 possessions in two of his past three games to rocket into Brownlow Medal calculations.
His form has been a big reason the Tigers have won four of their past five matches, but asked if finals were still a possibility, Hardwick said the team was "firmly in the one week at a time basket".
"Our year extends no further than this week," he said.
"Our consistency level over the last four to five weeks has been pretty good, so we have to make sure we maintain that consistency and get some performances on the board."
Hardwick remained wary of the Lions, despite their torrid run of form and the loss of star midfielder Dayne Zorko, who will miss one match for personal reasons.
"They played better last week. I went up and watched that game against West Coast and they controlled the ball pretty well," the coach said.
"We saw some instances where they probably went sideways a little bit too much but I think they'll address that this week.
"They're a side that is on the up. They've got some young players, some exciting players, and we've got to make sure we come focused to play."
With storms expected to hit Melbourne late on Friday, Hardwick said the Tigers would be mindful of weather with an eye to making late changes if necessary against the Lions.
Their emergencies for Saturday are defender Nathan Broad, midfielder Jacob Townsend and half-back Jason Castagna.
"I was just looking at the weather forecast ... we'll keep an eye on it," Hardwick said.
"It's something we always have in our planning, but we'll play it by ear at this stage and see how it pans out.
"A couple of times we've gone in with some plans in place and it hasn't actually stormed at any stage, so it's not too good the weather forecast."
