Tigers stirring for ‘massive’ Dusty milestone

Richmond coach Adem Yze hailed his team’s stirring away win over Adelaide as perfect way to kick off what looms as a “massive week” for his club which will spend the next seven days building towards superstar Dustin Martin’s 300-game milestone.

Martin was rested for the clash against the Crows after being ill during the week, setting the scene for the triple Norm Smith medallists to play his 300th game in front of adoring Tigers fans at the MCG against Hawthorn.

The victor at Adelaide Oval was just the second for first-year coach Yze who has endured a horror run of injuries but could also get superstar forward Tom Lynch back with a win over the Hawks for Martin now the expectation.

“It’s huge, but we did win so he might have to come back through the VFL,” a beaming Yze joked after the eight-point win.

“In all seriousness, it’s a massive week for our club and one that we want to celebrate one of our greatest players. We do that really well at our footy club, we celebrate our people, and this is an opportunity to celebrate one of our best.

“We’ll have an amazing week leading up to it, our players will want to play well for him and make it a big occasion.

“We’re not going to shy away from the fact that we want to be a big spectacle.”

The Tigers fought off a late rally by the Crows to snap an eight-game losing streak with their second win of the season having pushed Geelong for a half the week before and after losing forward Mykelti Lafau to an ACL injury against the Cats.

Yze said his team had been building towards the win.

“It has been a fair while, but I’m just really proud of the players and to see them get some reward for effort,” Yze said.

“They really played with their hearts on their sleeves.

“It does obviously put just a nice feeling on what we’ve been training and implementing,” he said.

“Just to get some reward for effort – the last three weeks since the Brisbane game (a 119 point loss) we feel like we’re turning the corner.

“It’s credit to our leaders, momentum swings are massive in the game, and for them to be able to arrest that (late) momentum and understand where the game was at (was great).

“We have got 100,000 members who expect us to play well every week, we have got a big Tiger army that follow us through thick and thin.

“So we do have a lot to play for, irrelevant of how many wins we’ve had for the season.

“It’s good for our players to understand that. And they do understand that, that is part of our DNA.”

Dion Prestia received treatment on a calf but Yze reported the onballer had received a knock and should be fine to take on the Hawks.