I know we all love reading about the cheap rookies, but the first one I’m looking at will be a bit on the pricey side…as far as the kids go anyway.

Richmond fans are extremely excited about Dustin Martin, and with good reason. There’s a lot to like about him and along with Jack Trengove, I believe he’s the rookie most likely to play 22 games, so it does give you flexibility to keep him as bench cover late in the season, or earn you enough cash to trade out for a keeper. Also, as a general philosophy this year I am valuing durability higher than most things this year (sorry Chappy).

One thing I will note, and this probably goes without saying, at his anticipated price point of about $150K you would only be looking to start him on the ground. I mean, personally I couldn’t justify spending that much on a bench player. But for that much money can we back this kid in to be this year’s Daniel Rich? The reason I’m writing about him is that there are few things about his game that bears a bit of resemblence to Rich.

Martin has a very strong and mature body - a good, typical country lad. His hardened body will assist greatly in his durability as the season goes on. Not only is he mature, but he’s tough as nails, so I’d expect him to play through injury more than most other young kids.

I hear you ask, “But Dan, what good is durability if he scores like Nathan J. Brown in 2008?” Never fear, because Martin wasn’t drafted at Pick 3 as a midfielder for no reason. He’s a fantastic kick of the pill, so Richmond will be looking to entrust him with the ball in his hands more than other rookies around the league…especially if Hardwick has average ball users like Edwards, King and Hislop in his 22. Along with his wonderful foot skills (keep kicking, Dusty, handballs are only worth two points) his hardness means he’ll win his own ball and pull down more tackles than most other rookies. Some players can play a little bit too inside for DT production (lack of marks, too many handballs - it’s been a knock on Joel Selwood’s scope to move to the elite level, for example) but at least early on when you don’t expect elite production from Martin you can look for him to be one of the highest scoring rookies. Long term (not that it matters for this year) I think Martin has a fine outside game too and will be OK in this regard.

I’ll make the call now, injury aside, I expect Martin to lead first year players in tackles this year. If he can replicate Selwood’s first year (minus the premiership) you’d be looking at about 16 points per game on tackles alone. Not that I want to put a kid in the same bracket as freaks like Rich and Selwood, but I can just draw a lot of comparisons between their styles, their bodies and the likelihood of getting a lot of responsibility early on.

He’s comfortably in Richmond’s best 22, not just in my opinion, but in the opinion of a lot of Richmond fans as well and I really think he will be an important part of their midfield this year. After a big wrap like that, I’m hoping like all hell this doesn’t become my Shannon Cox article that Toby would remind me about somewhere between once to four times per week, but luckily Dustin Martin isn’t a pea heart. All of my plans this year involve having Martin as my sixth midfielder, possibly fifth if I can trust another rookie to hold down a starting spot ala Rich and Otten last year.