Dustin Martin | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
  • IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.

Dustin Martin

Smoking Aces

Batten Down The Hatches
Sep 21, 2007
20,625
18,125
The simple reason I hold players up to the rest of society is because people on low wages are supporting clubs who spend too much money.
Have you seen what they pay in the English Premier League? The worst player in that league gets paid more than Dusty.

And its very naive to suggest that us mug supporters only support the payment of these players. There is something called sponsorship. If the we lost the best players to other sports, it then dilutes the product and ultimately the big paying sponsorship deals quickly disappear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users

Dont Argue

Tiger Legend
Jun 26, 2018
5,777
12,388
Is it naive to believe 500,000 would be enough to attract players to the AFL?
Compare the sporting/financial careers of Paddy Mills and Scott Pendlebury.
For those who don’t know the story, Pendlebury took the last spot in the AIS Australian National Basketball team but decided to concentrate on football so gave his spot to the player that was next in line but had missed out. That player was Paddy Mills. Now check out what he earns.
No greater example of the challenges our sport faces for attracting the best talent from a relatively small pool.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users

TT33

Yellow & Black Member
Feb 17, 2004
6,816
5,805
Melbourne
EPL Premier League teams are privately owned by $billionaires who splash the money about willy nilly. There's no salary cap so it's pretty much open slather.
It's a very different scenario to the way most of the AFL clubs are run. The AFL tried the private ownership route but it failed.
You'll also find a lot of those EPL clubs are technically insolvent.
 

Wildcat

Tiger Superstar
Oct 25, 2012
1,054
67
I'm not doubting he lost significant weight....just query on the amount
I spent two weeks in a coma two years ago, immobilised, no food and pretty much no organ worked. I didn't lose 15.
What is Dusty? 90 or 95kg?...I dont reckon he has dropped to 75 or 80kg.
Not sure what my point is really only a query on the figures....
I had 2 weeks in hospital last year due to bowel issues. Dropped 10kgs or more very quickly. Took a while to gain weight again. Back in again this year for more surgery and dropped about 10again. Not much beer since and its stayed off.
So yeah 10-15kgs off is easy with his issues
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

larabee

Tiger Champion
Jun 11, 2010
3,694
5,435
Tigerland
Compare the sporting/financial careers of Paddy Mills and Scott Pendlebury.
For those who don’t know the story, Pendlebury took the last spot in the AIS Australian National Basketball team but decided to concentrate on football so gave his spot to the player that was next in line but had missed out. That player was Paddy Mills. Now check out what he earns.
No greater example of the challenges our sport faces for attracting the best talent from a relatively small pool.
Pendlebury has a basketball background? Wow, you'd think the commentators would have mentioned that at some point...
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: 15 users

Letsroar

Tiger Matchwinner
May 19, 2014
991
316
And by the way, we pay our elite players across the AFL way too much. It's not as if Franklin, Martin, Petracca etc would earn anything like half their current pay doing anything else. The AFL holds all the aces but has allowed payments that are way out of scale with the rest of Australian society. Team salay caps don't work. Individual salary caps just might solve many problems.
Have no problem with paying the absolute elite top money In no other high profile professional sport would the CEO earn more than the best player

look to AFL house to criticise bloated salaries especially given their performance
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user

theglove3

Tiger Champion
Jun 3, 2003
2,508
2,254
You get the feeling this will take quite a while to fully recover.

Then the moral issue begins.
Will oppo players then target Aston's rib area with pokes and prods?
Once you take the field you are fair game.
But is it correct morally?

Was it the Scott brothers who targetted Nick Riewoldt when he returned from injury?
And the Velvet Sledgehammer had a hand injury and defenders kept poking and chopping at his hands?

And our own Tom got a free kick v Hurley IIRC when he returned from the hand injury?

Will Asto get free kicks or get suspended because he starts dropping blokes as retaliation for their "tactics"?

Gilquarters could have a moral minefield on its hands.
 

achillesjones

"just kick it to Royce"
Apr 19, 2004
3,528
2,938
Have no problem with paying the absolute elite top money In no other high profile professional sport would the CEO earn more than the best player

look to AFL house to criticise bloated salaries especially given their performance
CEOs have transferable skills. Wider market.

AFL players are in a small market. No transferable skills.

The knee-jerk reaction to an individual salary cap is understandable in a free market economy. It is not a question of whether the champs are worth lots, but $500,000 is $10,000 per week. If that is not enough to attract a player, so be it. Most of us would be battling to save $10,000 in a good year.

Further, an individual cap would lead to weaker clubs keeping their heroes and more of the pie for the short careers of the fringe players.

Your odds of being a top AFL footballer are much better than pursuing the big money sports.

I certainly don't begrudge paying players well, but the occasional glance in the rear vision mirror can help us gain perspective.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users

CarnTheTiges

This is a REAL tiger
Mar 8, 2004
25,352
11,182
Victoria
You get the feeling this will take quite a while to fully recover.

Then the moral issue begins.
Will oppo players then target Aston's rib area with pokes and prods?
Once you take the field you are fair game.
But is it correct morally?

Was it the Scott brothers who targetted Nick Riewoldt when he returned from injury?
And the Velvet Sledgehammer had a hand injury and defenders kept poking and chopping at his hands?

And our own Tom got a free kick v Hurley IIRC when he returned from the hand injury?

Will Asto get free kicks or get suspended because he starts dropping blokes as retaliation for their "tactics"?

Gilquarters could have a moral minefield on its hands.
Think the Scott’s actually went Nick after he received an injury during a game. I can remember Scotty Turner following Jim Stynes around trying to shake his hand when Jimmy had just returned from a hand injury.
 

Tenacious Tiges

I remember when Balmey just thugged them .....
Apr 11, 2003
2,584
1,194
Think the Scott’s actually went Nick after he received an injury during a game. I can remember Scotty Turner following Jim Stynes around trying to shake his hand when Jimmy had just returned from a hand inju
Think the Scott’s actually went Nick after he received an injury during a game. I can remember Scotty Turner following Jim Stynes around trying to shake his hand when Jimmy had just returned from a hand injury.
Yep the Slag Brothers went the tough guy rough up in Nick Riewoldt after he went off earlier from a knock or something. They were so tough they did it in tandem on the wounded prey.
 

craig

Tiger Legend
Aug 19, 2004
45,649
29,195
Melbourne
You get the feeling this will take quite a while to fully recover.


As Big Richo has stated, I would expect Dusty to be up and about come the season start, and would not be surprised to see him a little trimmed down during early pre season but he will no doubt increase his protein intake as his kidney function improves with healing thus assisting him to put mass back on and regain strength.

Kidney trauma is no simple thing, as the kidneys are an amazing and complex organs which perform many functions from assisting / maintaining systemic blood pressure regulation via hormone release to control fluid levels in the body and helping to balance the bodies PH via metabolism and regulation of electroloytes, filtration of proteins and associayted byproducts, hormone secretion and production, red blood cell formation via erythropoetin (EPO) prodcuction in the adrenals and adrenalin / cortisol,in a response to the bodies sympathetic nervous system requirements, and obviously the production or urine from metablic waste in the bloodstream.!

Dusty's weight loss and fruit and veggie diet and renal injury all go hand in hand and are normal par for the course in a patient that has suffered renal trauma.

His diet is simply to minimise protein intake and relieve stress workload on his kidneys by creating a more neutral environment without high levels of protein, albumin's, amino s, creatine, Uric acid and Nitrogen.

Dusty will also suffer a degree of muscular atrophy as he is not taking in protein, or indulging in heavy physical training to maintain his mass, much in the same way as a broken leg muscle atrophies or shrinks.

Renal failure patients are also often placed on such a diet to assist recovery of function if possible.

Animal; proteins contain high amounts of amino acids proteins and substances like creatine, and create by products Uric acid, Nitrogen, which produce acidity in the body and put a bit of work on the kidneys to not only process these substances but also to regulate the changes to help keep the body in a more balanced state.

The body does not heal as well under duress but more to the point that such metabolites create increased workload on the kidneys, and in Dustin's case thats not ideal.

The flip side is that the body needs protein to re build and heal, thus a very delicate balancing act in assisting his recovery.

By limiting the high protein diet the kidneys workload is lessened and the recovering kidney can heal and the good kidney can easily do the work of 2 when not being flogged.

Apologies for the ramble.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: 27 users

22nd Man

Tiger Legend
Aug 29, 2011
9,185
3,597
Essex Heights
Compare the sporting/financial careers of Paddy Mills and Scott Pendlebury.
For those who don’t know the story, Pendlebury took the last spot in the AIS Australian National Basketball team but decided to concentrate on football so gave his spot to the player that was next in line but had missed out. That player was Paddy Mills. Now check out what he earns.
No greater example of the challenges our sport faces for attracting the best talent from a relatively small pool.
Wonder how the 11 others in Mills AIS squad have fared. And Pendles made the right choice, automatic hall of fame, Collingwod all time great, would be in AFL team of 21st century. Mills up there with AGaze as Australian basketball legend.
We need our NBA basketballers to sponsor our football clubs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user