Why Dusty Isn't Going Anywhere!
Why Dusty isn't going anywhere!
If Dusty decides to go (again) then he must be traded or find himself in the draft where Dirty Rotten Melbourne, Dirty Rotten St Kilda or another Dirty Rotten cellar dweller awaits as he is still two years away from Free Agency.
If he wants to go back to Sydney then the Dirty Rotten GWS would circle but would have to trade for him and the Tigers could plunder their budding young stars or draft picks.
In October of last year Dusty said that he wanted to seek an extension as soon as possible. Then BOOM! All has changed and the potential circus looks to open up again as he puts talks off. The collective gasp from tiger fans was deafening at the announcement; and this on the back of Alex Rance! The two tiger superstars who the tiger army thought were both a formality to sign now are both in limbo. But let’s go back to Dusty. Back in September 2013 and with what seems like only yesterday Dustin Martin suspended his negotiations with Richmond because he wanted to see what the market thought. The market was nervous; very nervous. After one of the most embarrassing non-trades of all time Dustin Martin re-signed staying at Punt Road on what is believed to be substantially the same terms - about $480,000 a year - as the final terms he was offered before abandoning talks to see what the rest of the competition had to offer him. One by one the potential suitors fell away: some for financial reasons; some for concerns about his lifestyle or image; some because when they spoke to him all he did was talk about how much he loved Richmond and they wondered why on earth he was leaving.
In the end the market was not what Martin or his manager thought it would be. The $600,000 a year four-year deal they hoped or expected evaporated returning to the club with his tiger tail well and truly between his legs. Dustin wanted time to really think about it. He was missing his family and he was contemplating moving back to Sydney because his father lives there it was reported at the time. It was never about the money. His father — who he thanked publicly at the 2013 Jack Dyer Medal — now spends half his time in Melbourne Tigers football manager Dan Richardson said the club had been disappointed Martin had felt the need to shop around but they respected his reasons for doing so but to the clubs credit they stood firm. I for one thought they handled the whole situation professionally and brilliantly.
Martin has matured into one of the league’s most damaging footballers and is so settled that contract talks for him to stay at Richmond long-term seemed a formality. The Richmond switchboard which once rung off the hook with sightings of Martin out late is now silent, with Martin working in the club’s indigenous centre. He loves the club, he knows they care about him, and he can’t see himself anywhere else. Most of all, Richmond and Martin have begun to trust one another again, so much so that he has thrived while living with ex-Tiger Dan Connors, who the club once told Martin was persona non grata. His Jack Dyer finishes are exceptional: fourth in his first year 2010, third in 2011, tenth in 2012, second in 2013, and third again in 2014. The irony of Dustin Martin’s September 2013 contract impasse is that he now deserves the figures he so publicly demanded. Just give it to him tigers! GIVE IT TO HIM! The tigers will and Dusty will stay.
