Despite being on the way to intoxication during Saturday night's history-making grand final, I discovered two things.
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Firstly, Gary Ablett Junior's retirement is a huge loss to the football world and secondly, Dustin Martin is quite good at the sport.
The first discovery certainly shocked me in terms of how emotional it made me feel.
As a St Kilda fan whose premiership dreams were destroyed by Ablett and co. in 2009, the little master has never been one of my favourite characters but it's hard to deny the man's talents.
357 games, 445 goals, two premierships, two Brownlow Medals, five player's association MVPs and eight All-Australians - it's a pretty stacked resume.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
Despite not being the biggest fan of the man, a memory that will never leave me is arriving hours early to a Hawthorn and Gold Coast game at the then-named Aurora Stadium just to watch him in action.
A mate and myself stood beside the boundary line all day in pouring rain, marvelling at the god-like skills he possessed - I guess you could call it "the Ablett effect".
While Saturday's game wasn't the grand farewell most would have hoped for the Geelong and Gold Coast veteran, he was able to show his fighting spirit after injuring his shoulder in the opening minutes.
He was later back on the ground and somewhat influencing play before a poignant post-game guard of honour saw him into retirement.
Saying goodbye to Ablett was a touch emotional but basking in the glory of Mr Martin was something phenomenal.
Dustin Martin is quite good at the sport
Kicking four goals - all of which had an incredible degree of difficulty - and collecting 21 disposals on his way to being the first player to win three Norm Smith Medals, the tattooed Tiger is a freak.
It could well be that while arguably the greatest player of the modern era departed the game, his successor began to make his mark.
It may sound strange to say "began" after someone has won three premierships, three Norm Smith Medals, a Brownlow Medals and four All-Australians but it is what it is as last night just made me realise how incredible Dusty is.
He's a bona fide star and perhaps I'll wait in the pouring rain to watch him despite having no team-based interest in the contest some day.
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
