When it comes to ranking the greatest player in league football history, the names Wayne Carey and Leigh Matthews feature prominently.

For many football scribes, that’s the short-priced quinella, when it comes to nominating the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in the AFL/VFL competition.

So, when both Carey and Matthews see fit to heap praise on current-day Richmond star Dustin Martin, for his outstanding performances this season, that carries special significance.

“He’s been brilliant,” Carey said on Triple M following another best-on-ground performance by Martin, in last Saturday’s win against Essendon at the MCG.

“He’s absolutely elite, and he’s in the top handful of players in the competition right now – there’s no doubt about that. 

“What he does is he explodes like (Patrick) Dangerfield . . . bursts away from the stoppage.

“When you can win the ball from a contest, and you run and carry the footy, this is what attracts the eye.  And he’s doing it as well as anyone. 

“I just love the way he plays . . .

“I’ve been fortunate to fly back with Richmond a couple of times, when they’ve played in Adelaide or Perth, or wherever it was, and key people at Richmond that I’ve spoken to on those flights are really impressed with how he is going, obviously on the field, but more importantly, off the field . . .

“He has done incredibly well, and I think he’s getting better and better understanding what the requirements are.”

Matthews ranks his top seven players in the AFL competition a couple of times each year.  For the first time, Dustin Martin’s name appears in ‘Lethal’s Top Seven’.

“He’s never been at the level, where you think there’s Dangerfield, Selwood, Hodge, Josh Kennedy.  But now he is,” Matthews said on Channel Seven’s ‘AFL Game Day’.

“He used to be a burst player . . . he’d get the ball 20-25 times and just really burst and be penetrating with it. 

“But now, he’s getting a lot of the footy with that penetration. 

“So he’s elevated himself enormously, I would have thought, this season.”