How loyalty cost Dustin Martin $3m Jon Ralph
From: Herald Sun
May 04, 2011 DUSTIN Martin could be an All-Australian and Brownlow Medallist this year and still only earn a tick over $165,000.
That is life as a second-year player on a fixed contract.
The football world is in love with him, and so was Greater Western Sydney.
But just like spearhead Jack Riewoldt, he signed a long-term deal last year to stay at Punt Road.
It is a deal that is likely to cost Dustin Martin $3 million in the next three years alone.
But that is Martin - big on respect, big on loyalty, and big on marking his mark as a one-club player.
Martin has signed on until the end of 2013, and it is understood he will earn about $400,000 in the next two seasons to come.
After that, he will likely sign another long-term deal which could start at around $600,000 in his first year.
That is $1.6 million for Dusty from 2012-2014.
Wait a year, sign up with GWS and he would have been able to attract similar money to Gary Ablett - around $1.6 million a season.
That's $4.8 million in three years alone, and a difference of $3.2 million to the bottom line.
He could have attracted a five-year deal from GWS too, so the discrepancy in salary only starts at that figure.
Most players accept less to stay at their clubs, but the difference is no more than a couple of hundred thousand.
This is an extraordinary sacrifice from Martin, who spent time in Sydney as a junior.
He will already be as well paid as any third-year player in the land, and prudent management will set him up for life.
But just as Ricky Nixon re-extended Jack Riewoldt's contract before he was out, Martin is safely locked away.
Both players wanted to sign, and Richmond was giddy with excitement at getting them to put pen to paper.
That was Nixon's strength as an agent, according to his clients.
He knew what players were worth, and he got that figure for them.
He mostly didn't hold clubs over a barrel, and didn't demand outlandish sums.
If a player told him they wanted a figure that was unrealistic, he didn't coddle them.
He just told them straight up that they didn't deserve that type of sum
It kept him in the industry for decades until he came unstuck over the St Kilda schoolgirl scenario.
Now his parting gift has been to Richmond, and you get the feeling Martin couldn't be happier.
He doesn't do media, he doesn't feel the pressure to be the main man, he just goes out and plays.
As Gary Ablett has found at the Gold Coast, the scrutiny is ten-fold.
You get the feeling Martin and Richmond might be the perfect fit.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/how-loyalty-cost-dustin-martin-3m/story-fn6cisdj-1226049486283
