Dribble Podcast: Ex-Perth Wildcat Damian Martin talks through new leadership job at Fremantle Dockers

Own the club trademarks and speak up if it matters. They’re the messages new Fremantle Dockers Leadership Adviser and former Perth Wildcats captain Damian Martin is delivering to the players as they prepare for the upcoming season. Martin has embraced every aspect of his new life at an AFL club, even playing at full-back on Pat Voss during training on Tuesday. He’s overseen the appointment of the leadership group and retention of Alex Pearce as captain, and worked closely with players who are desperate to win the club’s first premiership. The six-time NBL championship winner said success is built on communication and a commitment to trademarks. “Leadership is the ability to have an influence on someone else. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. Some lead by example. Some lead by communication. If you can combine the two, you can usually do something special if you bring others along for the journey,” Martin told The West Australian’s The Dribble Podcast. “I’m just encouraging all of the players that if they see something and it’s worth verbalising because it is for the betterment of the team, to feel comfortable knowing how to verbalise it so it has impact but also with receiving the information. “It can be tough at times. Everyone is competitive. It’s a physical sport. In the moment, you may not deliver it in the most perfect, articulate way. But if the person who receives it takes it on board and becomes a better footballer for it, I see that as a win. “When we talk about trademark, it’s got to be owned by the players. They’ve got to live, breathe and believe in it. So when I meet with the leadership group, or the collective group as a whole, it has got to be something they want to do, not something that is forced upon them. “Trademark was huge for the Wildcats. A lot of who we were and our identity was the unspoken stuff. It was doing all of the extras and the cliched one per centers before or after training.” Martin’s entry into AFL follows his former coach Trevor Gleeson previously working for Hawthorn and North Melbourne. Olympian Jenni Screen is currently working for the Hawks in a leadership role and North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson spent time with Golden State Warriors. But Martin said joining Fremantle wasn’t the start of him looking to return to basketball through coaching. “I am loving being back in clubland. But with a young family, I have seen the best coaches - people I admire - get fired. There’s just no stability in it,” he said. “With a young family, I have got no desire at all to do it.”