It makes sense for Dustin Martin to stay at TigerlandCaroline Wilson
The Age
26 August 2017It would be so easy to declare on the eve of Richmond's last home-and-away game that Dustin Martin would be crazy to leave the Tigers.
That, of course, is the prevailing view across the football landscape.
And it is an opinion that is as pragmatic as it is romantic. Because not only will Richmond's seven-year, $1.1 million contract offer make the 26-year-old Martin a very rich man should he remain with a big and potentially successful outfit, but the individual sponsorship deals he will command as a one-club player can — with astute management — secure his future.
There is no hotter player in the AFL than the enigmatic and publicly reticent Martin, explosive on the field and largely silent off it.
There is no hotter story in football than this extraordinary waiting game as the Tigers aim for a top-four position with their reigning club champion and short-priced Brownlow Medal favourite refusing to commit beyond next month.
You can only imagine the airport media circus in the coming days when Martin, joined by his eccentric manager Ralph Carr, head together to New Zealand to visit the champion player's exiled father Shane – father and son are expected to appear soon in an exclusively sold television interview.
Richmond remain unsure whether the Shane Martin visit will bring a decision on his son's future but what appears certain is that the Tigers' offer is their final offer.
Although the Martin camp may rightly question why his club cannot match the latest massive bid from the Kangaroos, most observers are questioning how a rebuilding North Melbourne can justify plunging so much money into one player.
This is an intriguing and dramatic play by North and should it fail, the repercussions seem almost too drastic to hang on just one player.
Even the coach, who must surely have spoken to Martin by now, and his future at the club, are tied to Dusty's choice.
Again it would be easy to break up the difference between the two bids – reportedly $2.8 million over a seven-year period — and mitigate that difference with the tax, the agent's fees, the pressure that would accompany Martin as the franchise player at a smaller club, along with the familiarity he currently enjoys at Richmond. Not to mention the external money that will come his way anyway should he win the Brownlow.
And the external view is that the Tigers have been as good for Martin over the journey as he has been for them. And for a cautionary tale, look no further than the sorry situation being played out between the Gold Coast and Gary Ablett.
It is not fair to compare the Suns and and their ongoing teething problems with North — which very recently played successive preliminary finals — but what is comparable is that Ablett went for the money, an offer he could not refuse, and now he is unhappy and desperately wants to break his contract and come home — and has for more than a year.
Former list manager Gary Buckenara told News Limited this week that Richmond could sell yet another revised Martin offer to its fans.
Interestingly, Martin reportedly indicated during the pre-season that he was waiting to see if the Tigers were heading in the right direction before making a decision.
What is now clear is that it has become about the money. So, alternatively, should Martin reject the Tigers for a godfather offer and no other reason, then supporters would hardly turn on the club.
Richmond, who hold a plan B, would rightly sell Martin's potential departure as a commercial decision and publicly wish him well.
The Tigers, too, would cut their losses, secure in the knowledge they could go no further. And should that happen, both parties are to be congratulated on how they have handled this contractual stand-off. A stand-off which could drag through September, although the club hopes will end with a new deal before the finals.
Even if the view prevails that Martin owes the club for its role in managing his welfare, it is also true that he has come of age as a champion this season.
Neil Balme and Daniel Richardson have played it as well as they possibly could. And the club has made finals.
And Carr, despite being a figure of some derision in an industry which remains suspicious of outsiders, has certainly done a brilliant job for his client in holding out. So, despite the dread in the hearts and minds of Richmond supporters, everyone has played their role, whatever you think of Martin's waiting game.
And as obvious as it seems to football romantics and pragmatists that Tigerland is surely Martin's home, only the player himself knows just how far he has come and therefore how important to his future well-being this massive pay day could prove. That is a view that will most likely be reinforced by his father.
Because no one but Martin has walked through his life in his shoes.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/it-makes-sense-for-dustin-martin-to-stay-at-tigerland-20170825-gy4l7z.html
