Dimma plea to protect Martin

DAMIEN Hardwick has raised the opposition’s treatment of Dustin Martin ahead of Richmond’s top-of-thetable clash against West Coast.

North Melbourne’s bornagain tagger Ben Jacobs did what virtually no stopper has been able to do in the past two seasons — eclipse Martin over four quarters in the Roos’ dogged 10-point loss. The Brownlow medallist was kept to 16 disposals and one clearance while Jacobs gathered 15 and three clearances himself.

Asked if the Tigers expected Martin to cop similar attention from the Eagles tomorrow, Hardwick said his star onballer had been stiff last weekend.

“It’s not often we see Dustin getting beaten. He took that on board and Jacobs did a great job. We probably thought he could have got a bit more protection from the umpires at various stages,” Hardwick said.

“He’s a ballplayer and he got one free kick for the day. That’s something we can’t control, but we want to see the ball players play. Jacobs did a terrific job last week and we expect Dustin to bounce back this week.

“All we ask is that players playing the ball get a fair go.”

Martin has had just seven contested possessions in the past fortnight — his lowest tally across a two-game period in his career. But while Martin endures a rare lean patch, Hardwick said his matchwinner would not be bothered.

“Look, in fairness to Dustin, he loves winning regardless of his performance. He’s just happy we won,” he said.

“That’s what he’s all about. He doesn’t blame, he doesn’t complain, he just gets on with it. If he has the same output this week and we win he’s happy.”

Hardwick said he was “reasonably confident” ruckman Toby Nankervis would be fit to take on the Eagles after hurting his right wrist in the third quarter of the Kangaroos game. The Tigers big man failed to train on Wednesday, potentially exposing Ivan Soldo to West Coast duo Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett.