Universal Love In the pantheon of Richmond greats, where does Dusty now stand?

Great is a big statement.

I've seen Hart and Hungry. Both at a similar levels to Dusty.

I'd probably have Hart at #1. On one leg he made multiple defenders look like idiots.

But Dusty is so close it's probably a dead heat.

Hungry Barlett just seemed to be where the ball was in a way no one else understood, great speed and skills. He was fundamentally smarter than anyone else. But not consistently dominant like Hart and Dusty.

I never saw Stewart, but 3 Brownlows says it all. His on the board performances are at or above anyone else the RFC has ever had.

St Francis was awesome, but a step down on pure greatness to me.

Obviously Captain Blood is the greatest legend Richmond has ever had, and probably the AFL has ever had. His story is of enormous talent, but limited mobility due to knee issues. But super smart. He is credited with turning the drop punt into the main kick. He'd have to be in the greatest list.

So to answer the OP, I'd have Dusty in the top couple with no good way of separating the top few.
 
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Reckon we will be adding Grimes to the last with another medal around his neck.
Was overshadowed by Rance earlier in his career but IMO was just as good. Obviously now with Rance gone it's become more evident just how good this man plays football. Also so reliable by foot.
 

matt_y106

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Dusty in the top five Richmond players of the postwar era, 75 years.
With Bartlett, Bourke, Hart, Stewart.
Then Rance, Cotchin, Riewoldt form the top eight!
It's true, for whatever reason, Jack is neglected as an all-time champion.
Perhaps it's just that he is overshadowed by Dusty, every other player is.
Dusty and daylight.

I’d have Richo above Rance, Riewoldt and on par with Cotch. Footballing ability Richo trumps Cotch. But what he has done for our team in regards to leadership, and a complete culture change, he trumps the Cho. So around even.

Dusty is the best Tiger I’ve ever seen (28).
1. Dusty
2. Richardson/Cotchin
3. Riewoldt
4. Rance


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JAKLAUGHING

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I’d have Richo above Rance, Riewoldt and on par with Cotch. Footballing ability Richo trumps Cotch. But what he has done for our team in regards to leadership, and a complete culture change, he trumps the Cho. So around even.

Dusty is the best Tiger I’ve ever seen (28).
1. Dusty
2. Richardson/Cotchin
3. Riewoldt
4. Rance


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Richo
Cotch
Rance
Martin...
 

cutterman

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I’m 32 so haven’t seen the Hart, Bartlett, Bourke etc but have read a helluva lot of Richmond history and watched a helluva lot of old videos/interviews.

Very interesting challenge a top 10 but mine is:

1 Dyer - is Richmond
2 Hart - as others have mentioned, carried the forward line on his shoulders. The 1973 prelim story is a cracker
3 Dusty - the best I’ve seen
4 Bartlett
5 Richo
6 Bourke
7 Titus
8 M Rioli
9 Cotchin
10 Riewoldt
 

Walt Kowalski

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Reckon we will be adding Grimes to the last with another medal around his neck.
Was overshadowed by Rance earlier in his career but IMO was just as good. Obviously now with Rance gone it's become more evident just how good this man plays football. Also so reliable by foot.
I reckon Grimes is better than Rance. Bit of a hot take, but there it is.

Given the choice of the one of them, I'd take Grimes.
 

Tackle Bag

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Bartletts finals record would suggest he had the ability to dominate when it mattered, similar to Dusty.

5 flags, 5 bnfs, 4 x leading goal scorer as a small fwd/mid and a norm smith for kicking 7 goals in the 1980 GF.
Its an unbelievable record.


Ian Stewart only played 80 odd games for the tigers, with most of his career played with the saints it’s hard to include him in these conversations
 
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Who_Noes

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For out and out footballing ability, Ian Stewart is right up there. He is only one of four players to have won three Brownlows. But he never stood head and shoulders above the rest of the team. There were so many great players in that side from 72 to 74, without any one being the absolute standout. If I had to nominate a standout from that generation, its probably Royce Hart. Like Dusty, he could, and did, turn games off his own boot, even when playing on one leg.
 

Monjike

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1 Hart
2 Bartlett
3 Martin
4 Stewart
5 Bourke
6 Rance
7 Richo
8 Riewoldt
9 M Rioli
10 Raines

Ask me tomorrow I’ll,probably change my mind again

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Ian Stewart was a great player for StKilda and he had one stellar year for Richmond, 1971. He was hampered by injuries for the rest of his career. I would put Rioli and Raines above him and Billy Barrot as well. Yes he was a great player but mainly for the Saints.
 

30YearsOfPain

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What makes Dustin interesting is he is so versatile.. plays all over the ground. If you look at the greats they tend to be key position players or defined roles. Also there is not much he can’t do and plays in bursts and his strength in tackles in incredible. He does not need 30+ every week to be awesome. He is really unique in that regard to do it year in year out. Deceptively quick as well And when he’s on his field kicking is breathtaking. The only knock might be his tank. He has also developed into a genuine team player... you can see it the way he shares the pill and the Way he talks. .... I suspect that is a result of the culture and his friendship with Cotchin.

i reckon he plays a lot like Lee Matthews minus being a campaigner on the field.

Another flag and that will put him into genuinely elite company.

All that aside he has to be in the top 5 somewhere with Hart, Bartlett, Dyer and maybe Richo.
 
What makes Dustin interesting is he is so versatile.. plays all over the ground. If you look at the greats they tend to be key position players or defined roles. Also there is not much he can’t do and plays in bursts and his strength in tackles in incredible. He does not need 30+ every week to be awesome. He is really unique in that regard to do it year in year out. Deceptively quick as well And when he’s on his field kicking is breathtaking. The only knock might be his tank. He has also developed into a genuine team player... you can see it the way he shares the pill and the Way he talks. .... I suspect that is a result of the culture and his friendship with Cotchin.

i reckon he plays a lot like Lee Matthews minus being a campaigner on the field.

Another flag and that will put him into genuinely elite company.

All that aside he has to be in the top 5 somewhere with Hart, Bartlett, Dyer and maybe Richo.

Not Richo. Love him to bits. But Richo isn't in that company.

If he played nowadays it might be different. Better team and set I reckon he could have developed to another level. But he isn't in the same league as Hart or Dusty.
 

30YearsOfPain

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Not Richo. Love him to bits. But Richo isn't in that company.

If he played nowadays it might be different. Better team and set I reckon he could have developed to another level. But he isn't in the same league as Hart or Dusty.

Its hard to know where to put Richo. Such a great player kicked 800 goals when we were so s**t. It’s a good effort. Imagine him in from that era in say the Brisbane team... he would have kicked a 100 in 3 seasons.

but I forgot about Bourke... he would have to be in the top 5. Richo in the top 10
 

YeOldTiger

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Love Dusty and I had to ponder long and hard about it but the best player to ever pull on a boot for Richmond imo is Kevin Bartlett. His record speaks for itself. However, Bartlett always took on the responsibility himself. Much like Richo.

What seperates Dusty from these great players is his ability to bring his other other teammates into the game. Dusty is the only one I can think of who would thrive in this current setup and gamestyle because he can not only bake the cake but can put the icing on too.

I've said it before, Dustin Martin can win you the match from just about anywhere on the field.

For those reasons and his ability to perform in big games Dusty would be my first picked of all Tigers.
 
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It's a good question, and I really don't think you can fairly judge and the current media hype has settled down a bit. He'll be right up there.

I still have KB as the best Richmond player I have seen, and I think there's a very good historical argument that he is the greatest Richmond player of all time.

Hart is a difficult one - I never was that impressed. Now, he had done a couple of knees by the time I was old enough to get beyond hero-worship I though he was a good ordinary player - our best KPF, but every team had one of those. Obviously, based on his reputation, I'm wrong, but that's my impression.

Apart from them, in my time I have Weightman, Richardson, Bourke (but which one?🤔) and Riewoldt. I think Geoff Raines and Michael Roach were amazing for a few years from 79-82 before Raines left and Roach got injured (my god, our 1980 side was good). Other chances are Wayne Campbell (gets a lot of undeserved scorn from Richmond fans because he was the best player in a s**t side, AND a bit of a dick, but he was much better than Knights), Rance and Grimes (I can't split them), and a surprising one - Sheeds. Very, very good, very influential on the field, (and if he'd become our coach in 82 (or even 79) the world would be entirely different).

I'll give you my final opinion on Martin 3 years after he's retired.
 

Ceehook

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Tell my knee, achilles etc. I'm doing pretty well for someone born in 67.

67 and you're saying you saw KB & Royce
I'm 60 and seeing them in primary school and early high school I'm a little guarded about saying too much

what struck me the most about Royce was the love Richmond fans had for him and the way the players and crowd would lift when he ran onto the ground

KB was an accumulating machine and slippery
very seldom he got nailed , he also just seemed to sense the right spots to run to over a long period of time
and at the end of his career was the 1980 finals , no one will do what he did that September

both are greats of the game (we can put the Club bit aside )

Dusty - he's there now , brownlow , premierships , changing the results of games and as someone said bringing others into the game
the only current players that rival him are lil Gaz and Dangerfield and they have ticks against brownlows , Gaz premierships and both won plenty of games off their actions - but both are in the twilight of their careers

what Dusty will do between now and his retirement I look forward to , I never tire of his skills
at the end of a game at Etihad I said out aloud is there anyone on the ground that can do that ?
lots of NO's from adoring Tigers fans
Anyone in the league ?
NO NO NO
I said I think Judd was at that level and Ablett is just different players
Yeah yeah the response

But Dusty is ours :)

I got a roar , slaps on the back couple of high 5's


**

I had an MRI on my knee last week , the Dr shook his head and said where do I start :-( , the cortisone has been good :)
 

Marcel Proust

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67 and you're saying you saw KB & Royce
I'm 60 and seeing them in primary school and early high school I'm a little guarded about saying too much

what struck me the most about Royce was the love Richmond fans had for him and the way the players and crowd would lift when he ran onto the ground

KB was an accumulating machine and slippery
very seldom he got nailed , he also just seemed to sense the right spots to run to over a long period of time
and at the end of his career was the 1980 finals , no one will do what he did that September

both are greats of the game (we can put the Club bit aside )

Dusty - he's there now , brownlow , premierships , changing the results of games and as someone said bringing others into the game
the only current players that rival him are lil Gaz and Dangerfield and they have ticks against brownlows , Gaz premierships and both won plenty of games off their actions - but both are in the twilight of their careers

what Dusty will do between now and his retirement I look forward to , I never tire of his skills
at the end of a game at Etihad I said out aloud is there anyone on the ground that can do that ?
lots of NO's from adoring Tigers fans
Anyone in the league ?
NO NO NO
I said I think Judd was at that level and Ablett is just different players
Yeah yeah the response

But Dusty is ours :)

I got a roar , slaps on the back couple of high 5's


**

I had an MRI on my knee last week , the Dr shook his head and said where do I start :-( , the cortisone has been good :)

Danger ia obviously a jet but I reckon fyfe > danger
 
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