‘Surprise packet’: Why Jack Martin looms as the Blues’ finals X-factor

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Jack Martin’s creativity, skills and willingness to buy into the club’s on-field pressure mantra have helped to turn around Carlton’s fortunes, but it’s his leadership skills which are less well known.

At quarter-time against Gold Coast last Saturday, with the stunned Blues trailing by 33 points, it was Martin’s calmness which helped his team re-emerge and secure a drought-breaking finals berth.

On a roll: Jack Martin has changed the narrative about his career since overcoming soft-tissue issues.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images

“His on-field and off-field leadership, he sees the game really well. He is an extension of the coaching group at breaks and during the game. It’s a real pleasure to work with him when he can just echo your message with such clarity which people probably wouldn’t see,” Ashley Hansen, the Blues’ forwards coach, said.

“He sees the game really well, and was a catalyst at quarter-time last week to give the boys some composure, and then realign them with the task we had in front of us. That just shows the maturity he is growing and, I guess, the team ethos he is buying into, and he wants to help his teammates achieve. He, like anyone, has probably been starved of a fair bit of success in his career, so I think there is an intrinsic motivation to achieve that.”

This leadership also extends into team meetings through the week, where he “articulates what he sees, and questions and challenges the way that we want to play and the best way to go about it”, added Hansen, a former West Coast premiership player, and Western Bulldogs premiership assistant coach.

“He has been a surprise packet to me, a little bit. I thought he could be quite shy, but when he is talking footy, he is pretty confident in what he sees and what he can contribute to the group.”

Four years into a five-year contract, and it appears Martin is delivering the career-best football the Blues have craved.

While the former Sun had a strong maiden season at Princes Park in 2020 (15 games, 12 goals, sixth in the best and fairest), the ensuing two were derailed by soft-tissue injuries, restricting the dasher to a combined 23 matches (20 goals).

This year threatened even greater tumult, when Martin was hurt in the opening round against Richmond, and missed the next 12 weeks of senior football. It sparked a detailed analysis of his body, Martin seeking alternative treatment from specialists outside the club. This program works to strengthen his calves, while also helping him recover better.

“In conjunction with the [Blues’] high-performance team and the medical team, it was finding the right balance between training loads, treatment levels, what type of treatment, when do you have that treatment, when to be honest with yourself because he loves training but [needs to say]: ‘I probably need to pull back today’, guys are getting better at that self-awareness, certainly when they are getting older,” Hansen said.

“It’s a matrix of a lot of things that have combined to put him in this spot.”

The Blues have also done their part in managing him well. When Martin returnned in an ignominious defeat to Essendon in round 13, a loss which shook the club and players, Martin was substituted off. He was also managed against Gold Coast a week later when again substituted off.

He sat out the round-19 thrashing of West Coast, returning against Collingwood when he had three goals from only 12 disposals in a stunning win. One burst from defence to attacking 50, reaffirming his gut running capability, was highlighted by coach Michael Voss in the team review.

Pressure point: Jack Martin’s willingness to set an example has helped the Blues emerge as a premiership contender.Credit: AFL Photos

Commentator David King said after that performance the challenge for Martin was to back it up. That he has.

While he hasn’t had more than 15 disposals in his past eight games, Martin has bought into delivering the forward pressure and overall run the Blues vowed to bring for the rest of the season after their open and honest mid-season debriefing.

“We have always known Jack’s potential to influence games. Without doubt, the defensive intensity and contest attitude he has brought us in the front half has stimulated a lot of his teammates to buy in to those standards as well,” Hansen said.

“It has certainly helped us in the last 10 weeks with his ability to provide that. When Harry [McKay] was out, he was playing a bit taller, which was a tremendous task to undertake, and he did it really well on a number of occasions to give us aerial presence. We certainly know his ground-level contest ability, and he is a great finisher.

“He has been one of the important parts of the jigsaw puzzle that has got into the position we are now.”

His two goals, including a pivotal shot from 48 metres out, from 14 touches against the Suns last Saturday were also crucial, reinforcing why he could be a finals x-factor when the Blues, preparing to face Greater Western Sydney on Sunday, return to September for the first time in a decade.

“I think we have got many players that fit into that boat, but, certainly, he is one of the guys … he can have bursts in games, he can change a game through multiple ways, whether it be at stoppage, at ground-level contests, ahead of the ball in a critical one-v-one. He has got a lot of weapons that he can turn to and influence a game, which makes him so dangerous,” Hansen said.

Since round 13, he is equal second for goals at the Blues, second for disposals inside 50, third for inside 50 marks and third for scoreboard involvements, highlighting why former Magpies coach Nathan Buckley says he is such an important link between the tall forwards and high-pressure smalls.

Martin joined the Blues on a heavily fronted-ended contract, where this masthead reported he was paid about $2 million over his first two years, but the overall average was about $625,000. This allowed the exiting Sun to get to his club of choice through the pre-season draft.

The front-loading of the contract – designed to deter both the Suns and a then interested Melbourne from picking him up – meant Martin was close to the Blues’ highest-paid player.

With that came scrutiny, and frustration from Blues’ supporters when Martin was injured. But the West Australian, enjoying life as a husband and father to a young daughter, has changed the narrative, and is keen to soon extend his stay with the club.

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