Martin the best, but are Tigers?
CAN’T COMPARE TRIPLE TREATS: POWER
BRISBANE legend Luke Power says Dustin Martin is “arguably the best player of all time” after the Richmond star’s grand final exploits, but won’t compare the Tigers’ three premierships to the Lions’ own triple-treat dynasty.
Richmond’s 31-point grand final win over Geelong at the Gabba on Saturday night earned the Tigers their third AFL premiership in four years. Comparison with great teams of the recent past — including the Lions and Hawthorn — are inevitable. Hawthorn won three straight flags from 2013 to 2015, and also made the 2012 decider.
The Lions secured a hat-trick of premierships from 2001 to 2003 and lost to Port Adelaide going for a fourth in 2014. Power, who played in all three of Brisbane’s premierships, said it was tough to measure up successful teams from different periods and better to just celebrate their greatness.
“I don’t compare great sides,” Power said. “The game evolves and every year the standard of footy gets better, and at the moment Richmond are a very special club and special side, and they’ve got special players.
“There are a lot of similarities between great sides, but I’ve never been one to compare them.
“In their own right, both sides (the Tigers and the Lions’ triple premiershipwinning teams) are great.
“We should celebrate them, and I’m certainly celebrating this Richmond side.
“They’ve got an unbelievable way of maintaining their intensity over four quarters.”
While Power, now Carlton’s head of player development, was reluctant to declare whether his Lions or the current Tigers were better, he had little hesitation in his rating of Martin, now the only player in history to win three Norm Smith medals.
“He’s arguably the greatest player of all time,” Power said of Martin, who also has a Brownlow and three premiership medals.
“I always thought that Wayne Carey was the greatest player I’d ever seen, but Dusty’s performances on the biggest stage of all, it’s pretty special.”
Power’s triple premiership-winning teammate Jason Akermanis said it was hard to argue with Martin being in the discussion over who was the greatest player ever.
“You can dress it up any way you like, but in the end, for that one day, he’s been the best player in three grand finals, and he’s there by himself,” Akermanis said.