RICHMOND premiership coach Damien Hardwick and captain Trent Cotchin have revealed the moment they were reduced to tears after Dustin Martin's contract extension with the Tigers.

In an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at their drought-breaking premiership, the captain-coach pair detailed their phone call moments after the superstar's fresh seven-year deal.

"I'll never forget being on the phone and I let a yelp like a 12-year-old schoolboy when he told me he was staying. I was that excited, I had tears," Hardwick says in Don’t Believe in Never: The Wounded Tiger Story.

The program will air after the Richmond-Carlton match on Thursday night on AFL.com.au and Channel 7 from 11pm AEDT. 

"I'll never forget where I was when Dustin Martin called me to tell me he was staying a Richmond player for basically the rest of his life," said Hardwick.

Cotchin talks openly about the moments after receiving the call from the Brownlow and Norm Smith medallist to inform him he was staying at Richmond.

"I was in the room on my own and he (Martin) called me, then I called 'Dimma' (Hardwick) and sounded him out to suss whether he knew," Cotchin says.  

"I teared up, it was special." 

After a trip to New Zealand in the bye week, between the home and away season and finals series, Martin committed his future to the Tigers until 2024 when he will turn 33.

As Martin headed across the Tasman to consult his father, his captain's confidence shifted.

"(It's) bye week leading into finals, for the whole year I was really, really confident that he would be a Tiger," Cotchin said. 

"Then for whatever reason, there was just a moment, not a significant amount of worry enough for me to go (gasp)."

With a mega offer from North Melbourne turned down, Martin went onto claim the Brownlow Medal, a premiership and the Norm Smith Medal.

Don’t Believe in Never: The Wounded Tiger Story airs on Thursday night on AFL.com.au and Channel 7 from 11pm AEDT.