Dustin Martin not talking to Richmond coach Adem Yze about future just yetSpeculation is intensifying over whether Dustin Martin will stay or go at Richmond and his coach has revealed when those talks will happen.
News.com.au
May 16, 2024 - 4:04PMTalks about Dustin Martin’s future have been shelved for a later date, but Richmond coach Adem Yze insists his veteran superstar is walking around the club “with a smile on his face” as speculation intensifies and his seven-year contract nears its end.
Martin, 32, a triple premiership winner, and three-time Norm Smith medallist, is battling a form slump that mirrors his team’s fortunes, with the Tigers winning just one of Yze’s opening nine games in charge.
Exits from the premiership era started with a trickle but have turned in to a flood, with chief executive Brendon Gale jumping ship to helm the new Tasmanian team in the wake of retirements of former teammates Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt and best and fairest Liam Baker being linked with a move back to Western Australia.
Martin’s great mate and former captain Cotchin this week questioned whether the Brownlow medallist had the “energy” to get up every week for a team destined to finish at the bottom of the ladder.
“He’s definitely capable of it – I just don’t know if, (given) the place he is in right now, whether he’s got the energy to do so,” Cotchin said on Talking Footy.
“It’s hard to comment too far on what he’s going through, but since his old man passed away, it’s been a challenge for Dusty.”
Gale, who will see out the 2024 season, said he still harboured hopes that Martin, who is on the verge of playing 300 games in yellow and black, would re-sign with the club and finish his career at Punt Road.
“Our preference will be that he stays at this football club and becomes a Tiger for life,” Gale said this week.
“He’s an icon of our club and the game.”
Amid ongoing links to his former coach Damien Hardwick, now helming the Gold Coast Suns, Martin was still “buying in” at the club, Yze said.
But he conceded talks about Martin’s future were out of his hands for now.
“Those discussions will happen later in the year,” Yze said on Thursday.
“We just want him training well and enjoying his footy, and that stuff will get finalised later in the year.
“Right now, he’s walking around with a smile on his face, he’s helping our younger players that I’ve spoken about the last few weeks and he’s really buying into our program.”
Martin has played 296 games for the Tigers, and seven of nine so far in 2024 after battling a calf issue earlier in the season.
https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/dustin-martin-not-talking-to-richmond-coach-adem-yze-about-future-just-yet/news-story/2b32b73a454ff77161ee2f80d780f86b
