Dustin Martin’s Norm Smith Medal hattrick takes him into the stratosphere after Richmond’s grand final win

How do you know when you are watching history?

How can you tell when something has gone beyond good, moved past great, even superseded exceptional, and moved into a category all of its own?

What is it that can make you certain that what is unfolding in front of you will be recounted for decades to come, a story so incredible that future generations may well consider it a myth?

Whatever your metric, Dustin Martin meets it. Unequivocally.

If you were in any doubt prior to Saturday night, his 2020 grand final performance put paid to that emphatically. In a game of fine margins for the most part, Martin made himself the difference.

He didn’t wait for the decisive moments but instead created them and seized them himself before anyone else had…