What’s Dusty like? I spent four years at Punt Road and this is what I know

And much like the man himself, the answer is difficult to grasp. Because I never really met Dustin Martin, not unless you count that time in a hotel elevator in Brisbane, before the 2019 qualifying final against the Lions, when he spoke exactly five words (six without the contraction): “What’s on for today, Konrad?”

I don’t count that, by the way, because I was dumbstruck – in a way I wasn’t by any other Tiger – and managed only to mumble something unintelligible. I was clumsy and rushed – in a state of panic totally unfamiliar to him, except maybe in the face of his opponents.

What was on for Dustin that day? First a nap, before tearing the Lions apart with a symphonic six-goal performance, part Vivaldi, part Mack truck.