AFL News: Dusty in doubt, Voss backs Rioli reprieve, COVID claims Bombers rising star

Richmond superstar Dustin Martin is in serious doubt to take on GWS on Sunday afternoon, with the triple Norm Smith Medallist on personal leave away from the club.

Coach Damien Hardwick revealed on Thursday that the 30-year old, whose father passed away in the off-season, has been absent from the club since Monday.

With the Tigers’ backing, Martin has missed training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, with Hardwick ‘unsure’ whether he will be named to face the Giants at the MCG.

However, he maintains Martin has the club’s full support.

“He’s dealing with a couple of personal issues and whether he is available to play this week, we’re unsure at the moment,” Hardwick told media on Thursday.

“We won’t close the door, but we just want to make sure that Dustin’s OK.

“We are a football club, and it is important to win games – but the health and wellbeing of our players is our number one priority.

“We’ll give him his time. He’s so important to the fabric of our footy club, we just want to make sure he’s OK and he’s getting what he needs.”

Losing Martin would be a further blow for the Tigers as they try to recover from their costly Round 1 loss to Carlton, with Dion Prestia (hamstring) and Jack Riewoldt (thumb) already confirmed outs.

However, the news is better for wingman Kamdyn McIntosh, who has shaken a pre-season calf complaint and is in the selection mix.

Dustin Martin (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Voss backs Rioli overrule despite footy world’s shock

Carlton coach Michael Voss has become one of the few football personalities to defend the AFL tribunal’s shock clearing of West Coast forward Willie Rioli, for his much-discussed clash with Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell.

Many were stunned when the tribunal overturned the original one-match suspension for Rioli, deeming his action to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Speaking on Footy Classified, Voss, one of the league’s toughest combatants, supported the ruling.

“I saw it exactly as it played out… the simple thing for me was, I thought Rioli had a play on the ball,” Voss said.

“If you pause it with the ball just about to hit Rowell’s hand, you’ll see that Rioli’s still actually making a play at the ball. In a split second, he’s had to adjust.

“It would be really concerning if he held his line, and held his knees moving forward to play through that, what would have happened to Rowell.”

Voss also outlined how he will approach his coaching duties when the Blues take on the Western Bulldogs on Thursday night, having contracted a COVID case that will prevent him from attending Marvel Stadium.

Voss has received AFL permission to receive extra vision from the ground into his home, while he will be in constant communication with the coaches’ box.

“I’ve got the deluxe version of watching football on Thursday night,” Voss said.

“I’ve got four camera angles and I’ll have the live stats coming through. I’ll have a feed into the coaches’ box.”

However, Voss also acknowledged he will have to take a back seat for the match, with those at the ground, particularly caretaker senior coach Ashley Hansen, better placed to take decisions – and the new coach has full trust in his deputies to get the job done.

“We’re quite clear that the leadership and the decision-making sits in the coaches’ box. It doesn’t sit where I am,” Voss said.

“I’m very lucky that I’ve got a group of coaches that have all had coaching experience, they’ve all coached their own teams, so they’ve got experience sitting in and leading a coaches’ box. So it’s important to be able to trust them.

“I won’t speak directly to Ash [Hansen] – I’ll be speaking to Aaron Greaves, who is our coaching performance manager. I’ll be chatting to him when I need to, but it’s very important that the coaches make the decisions.

“They’ve got the feel on the game. If I need to have input I will, but largely it’s on them to get the job done.”

COVID blow for Bombers’ Rising Star

Fresh off a fairytale debut, Essendon’s Round 1 hero Nic Martin will be unavailable for the club’s Saturday clash with Brisbane at Marvel Stadium, under the AFL’s health and safety protocols.

Taken as a pre-season supplementary pick by the Bombers after being overlooked for the draft, Martin burst onto the AFL scene with five goals and 27 disposals in the Dons’ humbling loss to Geelong – enough to receive the nod as the AFL’s Round 1 Rising Star nominee.

However, the 20-year old has swiftly crashed back to earth.

“Martin… will be isolated for seven days as a household contact,” the club said in a statement on Wednesday night.

“All players and football staff will complete rapid antigen tests as normal before entering the NEC Hangar on Thursday.”

Alongside Martin, on-baller Kyle Langford is set to miss months after suffering a serious hamstring injury against the Cats. In better news, talismanic star Jake Stringer should return from a groin injury to face the Lions.