SYDNEY MYTH BUSTED AS GREAT MAKES $5M DUSTY CALLWill Dustin Martin request a move to Sydney at season’s end? It’s the million dollar question in AFL circles currently going around.
A $2.4 million question to be more specific given the Tigers superstar is contracted for two more seasons at Punt Road on that sum.
Sydney CEO Tom Harley played down his club’s interest in Martin this week, insisting “there has been no conversations with Dustin.”
It comes after Martin spent time in Sydney during his personal leave from Richmond earlier this season while mourning the death of his father, Shane.
Looking at the potential acquisition of Martin from a Swans perspective, three-time All-Australian Nick Dal Santo said he’d welcome him with open arms.
“Yes please, and you look at this group where they’re currently at... we all accept to some degree they are really good and will be even better in the future. They’re somewhere around the mark,” Dal Santo said on Fox Footy Live.
“I don’t think they can win the premiership this year, but you see this as a step by step process of where they were last year, where they are right now.
“If Dustin was on the table would you not be silly to not ask the question?
“Dusty is not where he was a couple of years ago, but he’s still a really good player. They sell this lifestyle: ‘Get away from the world tucked up there, no one knows you when you wall down the street’ — that’s Dustin every day of the week, he would love that.”
However Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy suggested being such a big name, a move to Sydney wouldn’t necessarily take Martin out of the spotlight.
“Buddy (Franklin) thought that thought then he went up there, and he was on the front page the day he walked in and the next six weeks,” he said.
“I think anonymity is a bit of a myth for people as big as Dusty, that’s why he gets paid millions of dollars to wear jocks and sell underwear. He’s not just known in Melbourne, he’s known right around Australia. Dusty would be a big name the minute he walked into Sydney if they could make it happen.”
Healy believes while in theory landing Martin would be a great coup for Sydney, salary cap pressure might not make it possible.
“I think there’s a lot more discussion around it than there is reality, and the reality is how do you fit him into the salary cap? Everyone says, ‘would you want Dusty?’ Yeah, I’d want Dusty, but how do you do it?” he posed.
“Chad Warner is coming through, he’s going to be demanding some top dollar very shortly. The ‘Lizard’ (Nick Blakey) is gong to be demanding some top dollar if he keeps on putting on the blizzard, and there’s some other kids we don’t quite know how well they’re going.
“They’ve already got (Callum) Mills on big money, (Isaac) Heeney on big money, Buddy is on big money — (he’s) going to come back a fair bit, I know. But when you’re talking about a bloke who’s on $1.2 million.
“We can all fantasise about having Dusty kicking the ball, coming out of the centre... but whether it happens or not, I think it’s more unlikely than likely.”
Martin missed the Tigers’ loss to Gold Coast on Saturday due to a hamstring strain in a rare injury setback for the 31-year old.
Given Martin’s durability across his 13 seasons in the league, Lions great Jonathan Brown would “absolutely” offer him a five-year deal worth $1 million per season.
“He’s been healthy throughout his career, obviously he had that contact injury last year when he hurt his kidney, but his legs have been healthy all throughout,” he said on Best On Ground.
“Maybe he wants to be reinvigorated by getting out of the footy bubble in Melbourne. Offer him five years, you’d get a solid five out of him no doubt about it.
“Now can you fit him into the salary cap with Buddy Franklin, who’d have to take a fair haircut? It could be GWS, they’d be in the running.”
Brown also pondered why only the Sydney clubs are in the conversation, questioning if other teams including the Suns could enter the race.
“I wonder if the Suns have a little bit of cash floating around?” He posed.
“He’s got a couple of old teammates there, Mabior Chol and Brandon Ellis. I’m not so sure about just the Sydney Swans being in this race.”
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