Inside Dustin Martin’s quick return to the fitness bash as Richmond confirms the superstar will return next week against Collingwood
- Boxing, gym and running helped Dustin Martin back in top shape
- The Richmond star returned to Punt Street this week after a five-week absence
- Club officials were impressed by Martin’s fitness levels upon his return
- He is said to be ‘certain’ to face Collingwood at the MCG next weekend
Boxing sessions, working out in the gym and running have kept Dustin Martin in top shape during his absence from the NFL and the Richmond star is “certain” to return against Collingwood next weekend.
Martin returned to training last weekend after a five-week hiatus, as the 30-year-old took some time to come to terms with the death of his father Shane.
Despite his long stint on the sidelines, Martin has started running since returning to Punt Road and has impressed the coaches on a number of training sessions.
Dustin Martin is said to be “confirmed” to return to the NFL against Collingwood next week
Damien Hardwicke chose not to accompany Martin West for the Tigers’ match against the Eagles, but the Herald Sun reports that the midfielder has impressed in a training session with VFL in Melbourne and insiders have decided he can return next week.
“He (Martin) trained with us on Wednesday and it came up a little bit (whether he would play against the West Coast) and we said let’s not take him to Perth,” said Richmond’s performance director Peter Berg.
He trained on Friday in a big session with the other guys who have the VFL bye and then we can look at him again next week. He went just about everything as planned which was great and we look forward to training him again next week. We’ll review it next week.
The 30-year-old kept fit by boxing and running while spending time in sports
While out of the game, Martin has been going through boxing sessions, running, and working out at the gym and has benefited from that work since his return.
“We won’t say if he’s in or not but he’s a very, very good player and as Dima (Damien Hardwicke) said yesterday, even if he’s not 100 per cent fit as long as he’s safe to play from an injury point of view (we’ll look at it).
“He did about 11 kilometers of work and all the different moves we throw at the players with a football element and a fair conditioning element as well.”
Club officials are confident he will not run the risk of injury if he returns against the pancakes next week
Borg said the club was never surprised by Martin’s adaptation after 260 games in 12 completed seasons plus the first round this year.
“He doesn’t need maintenance, he’s very good at recovering and communicating,” Borg said.
We know how his body responds. He loves his boxing, is much more amenable to running these days than 10 years ago and he maintains speed and strength indicators in the gym.
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