Dustin Martin was simply irresistible last weekend against the Blues in a best on ground performance. What do the stats tell us about his projected performance against the Pies this Thursday night?
The signs are pointing towards another Dustin Domination. Here’s why;
Richmond has a solid record against Collingwood in recent times.
They’ve won three of their last four with the loss being a game they really should have won.
They lead by three goals at two different times during the last quarter before eventually being beaten by a point in Round 2 of 2016.
In 2015 Rich won by 5 points against the Pies early in the season and then in Round 21 of that same year, they beat the Pies by 91 points.
In Round 2 of 2016, Richmond blew a 3 goal lead twice in the last quarter to eventually lose by a point.
On that occasion they had 13 more clearances, 50 more disposals, 22 more hit-outs and broke even in centre clearances.
Then in Round 20 of 2016 the Tigers beat the Pies by 15 points.
Once again beat them in contested ball, hitouts and disposals. On all four of the occasions mentioned above Dusty Martin played well.
Over the four game sample he was Richmond’s best player.
.@DustinMartin4 bringing barrels back 🚀#AFLBluesTigers #gotiges pic.twitter.com/cNA1dl5Ls6
— Richmond FC (@Richmond_FC) March 23, 2017
In those four games mentioned above, Dusty had the following statistical games
2015 Game 1: 26 possessions (109 AFL Fantasy and 96 SC)
2015 Game 2: 32 possessions, 11 marks and a goal (126 AFLF and 111 SC)
2016 Game 1: 30 disposals 1 goal 2 behinds (114 AFLF and 134 SC) in the loss
2016 Game 2: 34 disposals 1 goal 1 (110 AFLF and 123SC) in the win.
There is no question that Dustin has gone to a new level now as well, combine that with the fact he now has prolific contested ball players like Caddy and Prestia to help Cotchin extract the footy.
All signs point to another big performance from Martin.
Feel free to check out the match summaries of both the Richmond v Collingwood clashes from last season below.
Match Summary: Round 20 2016 Richmond v Collingwood
Match Summary: Round 2 2016 Richmond v Collingwood
It is also worth noting that Richmond had the benefit of winning the hit-outs against the Pies pretty easily last year largely due to Shaun Hampson being in the Richmond side.
Last week with Nankervis in the ruck against Kruezer, the Tigers lost the hit-out count 50 to 35 but Martin was still able to rack up six clearances and 33 disposals.
Buyer Beware: 150 gamer Bachar Under The Pump
Bachar Houli is also a Tigers player who had some success against the Pies last year and he is a player that many fantasy coaches will stumble upon.
Bachar had 35 and 30 disposal games respectively in 2016 against the Pies.
He was poor last week against the Blues however and with Brandon Ellis seemingly taking his spot at halfback it’s harder to see where he fits into the current Richmond team.
Ellis was very good for the Tigers leading the team in rebound 50’s and chiming in to help his fellow defenders in the air which is an area Houli struggles with.
Last week Houli played the second least amount of game time for the Tigers and is a player we are avoiding for the time being.
