AFL great Kane Cornes has ripped Richmond superstar Dustin Martin for the “petulant” snub of a journalist.
Martin injured his hamstring playing against West Coast at the weekend, and went for scans on the injury on Monday.
He was approached by a television reporter and asked to comment on the injury, but the 2017 Brownlow Medallist completely ignored the questioning and walked away.
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Martin is one of the two most recognisable players in the AFL, alongside Sydney’s Lance Franklin. He’s in the argument for the best to ever play the game, with three premierships to his name and three Norm Smith Medals for best afield in those grand finals.
And at 31 years old, Cornes believes Martin should know how to handle the media better than he did this week.
“It’s pretty petulant, don’t you think? I thought it was petulant from Dustin Martin,” Cornes told SEN radio.
“You’ve got the game’s biggest star refusing to talk to basically Channel 7’s No.1 footy reporter, the host broadcaster, and looking at him with genuine disdain and completely ignoring him.
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“There is a level of respect on how to treat people. A lot of footy fans don’t rate the media and a lot of players don’t, too, but I think it’s more about how you treat people and if you’re going to accept a $1.2 million cheque per year basically from media rights, I think there’s a real arrogance about that, and some people would say that’s overdoing it, but he refuses to do on-ground interviews after.
“You’re the game’s biggest star. I just reckon it’s not hard to just say, ‘Hey Mitch, I’m not sure mate, we’ll find out later in the week’. That’s all you’ve got to say.
“You’re speaking to the supporters as well. You may hate the media, but you’re speaking to the 100,000 Richmond members who never hear (from you).”
Martin is notoriously media-shy despite being the best and most high-profile player in the game.
Following the scans on his hamstring the Tigers announced he the superstar will miss this week’s game against Gold Coast.
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