Player Watch #4 Dustin Martin is the GOAT and King of Punt Rd.

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No MR, everyone will not be happy. I certainly won’t be. He said he was retiring. If he goes back on his word it will be a huge slap in the face to us Tiger fans.

Not to mention all the retirement merchandise that he would have got a cut of. Sold under false pretences. It’s deceitful.

What makes you think the club would be happy about any of it? Yes he helped deliver 3 flags but that doesn’t entitle him to make us all look like fools. I can’t understand why he would want to prove the media were right all along. I am extremely disappointed in him.

So many tigers supporters got emotional and cried when he retired. Can’t believe he’d slap them in the face like that tbh.

Bet you they wouldn’t have if he wasn’t cowardly enough to say he’s leaving to GC.
 
Ok, some points here. He has retired. He's not under contract. Richmond isn't paying him. The rules have changed around what Dustin can potentially do after what Mal Michael did all those years ago. Martin can't sign anywhere this season. Why? Please see below.

View attachment 2111520
hey CB17 did he actually request removal from a list as rarara and complete Form 40? Has he formerly retired by law.?
interesting though
 

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Dusty has been past his best since his injury, he hasn't been able to show consistently he is back to that 2020 form, I doubt he would have coasted the last 4 years with Cotch, Riewoldt others on the list, I do believe he is past his best but I also believe he is not as cooked as people believe, It was only last year he was one of the unlucky players to miss AA having the most disposals by playing 80%+ forward in like what 20 years can't remember the exact stats.

Anyone could see this year he checked out, because of the drop off. I might be wrong but I didn't see the 2023 form of him bringing teammates into the game, Dusty actually worked pretty hard last year defensively for his standards he did chase & put on pressure. and to play the role he did last year you have to be fit to get up to the midfield stoppages & back around inisde 50.

I could be wrong but if he goes up to the Suns & is back to a similar level to his 2023 AA squad form, it will prove he checked out for the 2024 season. And if he does plays like 2024 in 2025 well than I'll agree he is well & truly cooked.

But i have feeling he does have something left in the tank.
 
Freddy you are my all-time favourite poster, more favoured than all my other all-time favourites. :hearteyes: So I would never like to upset you.

This is the way I see it. Right back to the start, Hardwick. The club clearly doesn't feel majorly aggrieved by anything he has done because they are happily dealing with his team to release Rioli to them, presumably on favourable terms to Richmond.

Go back further, the club had a sensible policy that if a player or anyone else gets a better offer from elsewhere, and you want to go, come and chat to us, we will try to get you to where you want to go and all the best.

So Vickery, Deledio, Butler, Ellis, Higgins, Markov etc etc left, as did Caracella, and other assistants, and ultimately Burge, Innes, all the way up to Peggy and Brendan. Cain Liddle went to Blues as their CEO. Chol, Coleman-Jones, the list just goes on and on. The club has shown it wouldn't hold anyone back against their wishes. No doubt this is something that makes Richmond FC an appealing employer.

Every single person who played any real part in our flags has been treated with dignity and according to their own wishes.

Dusty has said and demonstrated over and over and over he loves the club. There is no reason for him to do anything two faced. He has so many great relationships with people at Richmond. He is an unrestricted Free Agent, he can leave to where he wants to go, for any deal he agrees to and nobody can tell him otherwise. That is his right. What possible reason would he have to deceive Richmond over this? A cut of 300 game merchandise? It could not be worth anywhere near enough to be worth him doing that. It is also not worth Gold Coast or Hardwick being involved in any deceipt against Richmond. They are for example trying to get a long contracted player who could be vital to their first flag tilt out of Punt Road. And they need to deal with Richmond ongoing. And other clubs.

Richmond, or specifically Balir Hartley, has clearly spoken to certain players with trade or free agency value at some point in 2024 and said we won't push you but if you fancy going somewhere else, then if we can get the right deal and it suits you, we are open to it. And these are the clubs we feel we can potentially get the right deals from...Eagles, Fremantle, Suns.

Dusty is a huge legacy player. The club clearly wanted him to be a 300 game player for Richmond so they made it happen. We know Blair keeps his own counsel. Dusty will have almost certainly told Blair whatever his true thoughts were at the time. Blair has likely had to have a chat with his Suns counterpart about it at some point, and of course Dusty would have been in talks witht hem as well. And this is how Schwartz has caught wind of it.

If Richmond wanted Dusty to say publicly he had decided to play for the Suns in 2025, then I am sure that is what he would have said. For whatever reason, maybe just to do with the big occasions of his 300th and Dusty and Grimes and Marlion being sent off by Richmond fans, the club has not wanted that announced.

Dusty wouldn't care about proving the media right or wrong, he has never played that game. He has just made a decision he feels is right for him. He has obviously informed someone or a small number of people about it, because it:

A) got out, and
B) did not get out with enough confirmation for most people to believe it.

I am willing to bet he informed Blair Hartley very early on in the piece in order to assist Richmond with its planning. And he has clearly informed the Suns because they needed to know as well, for the same reason.

It is not some huge deceipt. Dusty has not come out and made public statements this year along the lines of he would never play anywhere else. At least not that I am aware of. If Dusty wants to play for another club then it is for the best for Richmond that he does not play for Richmond. The club is focussed on a part of its future now that Dusty is just too old to play a meaningful part in. And how could we possibly wish him anything but the best at the Suns? It is Dusty.

I know you will be mad with me, but those are my thoughts. :)
Perhaps you're right with a lot of that, maybe the club are the ones being deceitful.
Dusty may not have cared so much about gis cut from the merch, the club on the other hand with the big shortfall for the redevelopment may have been a bit more interested in the coin.
I don't think the club is as invested in the membership as they used to be, it's all numbers and dollar signs these days.
I hope none of that's true, because if they go too far down that path they might be in for a rude shock.
 
We got the best. They can have the rest. Will always be a Richmond legend.
Owes us nothing and needs none of your approvals. If he wants to run around in the sun for 2 years, collect a paycheck and get a tan I say good luck to him. I can’t wait for them to build the statue at Punt red and tell my grandkids I saw him play.
 
Key people at Richmond would have been well aware what was happening from very early on. Suns were clearly not going to be trying to pull the wool over our eyes because they want Rioli. The whole thing will be part of the same carve up between the clubs. Suns will give us the picks we want, we will give them the players and potentially salary relief they want.
Makes sense - thanks
 
Freddy you are my all-time favourite poster, more favoured than all my other all-time favourites. :hearteyes: So I would never like to upset you.

This is the way I see it. Right back to the start, Hardwick. The club clearly doesn't feel majorly aggrieved by anything he has done because they are happily dealing with his team to release Rioli to them, presumably on favourable terms to Richmond.

Go back further, the club had a sensible policy that if a player or anyone else gets a better offer from elsewhere, and you want to go, come and chat to us, we will try to get you to where you want to go and all the best.

So Vickery, Deledio, Butler, Ellis, Higgins, Markov etc etc left, as did Caracella, and other assistants, and ultimately Burge, Innes, all the way up to Peggy and Brendan. Cain Liddle went to Blues as their CEO. Chol, Coleman-Jones, the list just goes on and on. The club has shown it wouldn't hold anyone back against their wishes. No doubt this is something that makes Richmond FC an appealing employer.

Every single person who played any real part in our flags has been treated with dignity and according to their own wishes.

Dusty has said and demonstrated over and over and over he loves the club. There is no reason for him to do anything two faced. He has so many great relationships with people at Richmond. He is an unrestricted Free Agent, he can leave to where he wants to go, for any deal he agrees to and nobody can tell him otherwise. That is his right. What possible reason would he have to deceive Richmond over this? A cut of 300 game merchandise? It could not be worth anywhere near enough to be worth him doing that. It is also not worth Gold Coast or Hardwick being involved in any deceipt against Richmond. They are for example trying to get a long contracted player who could be vital to their first flag tilt out of Punt Road. And they need to deal with Richmond ongoing. And other clubs.

Richmond, or specifically Balir Hartley, has clearly spoken to certain players with trade or free agency value at some point in 2024 and said we won't push you but if you fancy going somewhere else, then if we can get the right deal and it suits you, we are open to it. And these are the clubs we feel we can potentially get the right deals from...Eagles, Fremantle, Suns.

Dusty is a huge legacy player. The club clearly wanted him to be a 300 game player for Richmond so they made it happen. We know Blair keeps his own counsel. Dusty will have almost certainly told Blair whatever his true thoughts were at the time. Blair has likely had to have a chat with his Suns counterpart about it at some point, and of course Dusty would have been in talks witht hem as well. And this is how Schwartz has caught wind of it.

If Richmond wanted Dusty to say publicly he had decided to play for the Suns in 2025, then I am sure that is what he would have said. For whatever reason, maybe just to do with the big occasions of his 300th and Dusty and Grimes and Marlion being sent off by Richmond fans, the club has not wanted that announced.

Dusty wouldn't care about proving the media right or wrong, he has never played that game. He has just made a decision he feels is right for him. He has obviously informed someone or a small number of people about it, because it:

A) got out, and
B) did not get out with enough confirmation for most people to believe it.

I am willing to bet he informed Blair Hartley very early on in the piece in order to assist Richmond with its planning. And he has clearly informed the Suns because they needed to know as well, for the same reason.

It is not some huge deceipt. Dusty has not come out and made public statements this year along the lines of he would never play anywhere else. At least not that I am aware of. If Dusty wants to play for another club then it is for the best for Richmond that he does not play for Richmond. The club is focussed on a part of its future now that Dusty is just too old to play a meaningful part in. And how could we possibly wish him anything but the best at the Suns? It is Dusty.

I know you will be mad with me, but those are my thoughts. :)

Very well said.
 
Ok, some points here. He has retired. He's not under contract. Richmond isn't paying him. The rules have changed around what Dustin can potentially do after what Mal Michael did all those years ago. Martin can't sign anywhere this season. Why? Please see below.

View attachment 2111520
2 things. He may not have signed the appropriate paperwork yet, particularly if he knew he was going to do this.
Secondly, do you think the AFL won't make a hasty change to the rules if they can get Dusty up to their GC franchise?
 
We got the best. They can have the rest. Will always be a Richmond legend.
Owes us nothing and needs none of your approvals. If he wants to run around in the sun for 2 years, collect a paycheck and get a tan I say good luck to him. I can’t wait for them to build the statue at Punt red and tell my grandkids I saw him play.
No way statue goes up if he goes to shit coast
 
We got the best. They can have the rest. Will always be a Richmond legend.
Owes us nothing and needs none of your approvals. If he wants to run around in the sun for 2 years, collect a paycheck and get a tan I say good luck to him. I can’t wait for them to build the statue at Punt red and tell my grandkids I saw him play.
All true, the only thing I would say is he owed/s us the same respect we gave and give him, if this has been preplanned, there is no respect in the way he has conducted himself.
A legend of the club, always.
Will this tarnish his legacy, for some mabey not, for me, yes.
 

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We got the best. They can have the rest. Will always be a Richmond legend.
Owes us nothing and needs none of your approvals. If he wants to run around in the sun for 2 years, collect a paycheck and get a tan I say good luck to him. I can’t wait for them to build the statue at Punt red and tell my grandkids I saw him play.

Two of my grandkids have already seen him play both on telly and in person. The older one (she’s 5) always yells out ‘Dusty! Dusty!’ when she sees him on the tv.

Now, if he goes, how do I explain to her that yes he did retire but now he’d rather play for another team?
 
Two of my grandkids have already seen him play both on telly and in person. The older one (she’s 5) always yells out ‘Dusty! Dusty!’ when she sees him on the tv.

Now, if he goes, how do I explain to her that yes he did retire but now he’d rather play for another team?

Tell him it’s sabotage and to save us money
 
We got the best. They can have the rest. Will always be a Richmond legend.
Owes us nothing and needs none of your approvals. If he wants to run around in the sun for 2 years, collect a paycheck and get a tan I say good luck to him. I can’t wait for them to build the statue at Punt red and tell my grandkids I saw him play.
It's not like he is going anywhere near his prime. And it's not like he is going to a Carlton, Collingwood or Geelong ie a hated enemy. It's Gold Goast famous for it's beaches and theme parks, I have the same feeling of angst as I would if he was going to Tahiti. It's a footnote in his history, something that will be a trivia pursuit questions in a few years from now.

Three premierships, three Norm Smiths, no way I'll be booing him. Good luck to him
 
2 things. He may not have signed the appropriate paperwork yet, particularly if he knew he was going to do this.
Secondly, do you think the AFL won't make a hasty change to the rules if they can get Dusty up to their GC franchise?
But surely if it needs a trade we trade him. It might even mean they have to send a player our way to clear the budget out. And the AFL may tell them to do it simply for marketing reasons. We should see who we can get back the other way
 
hey CB17 did he actually request removal from a list as rarara and complete Form 40? Has he formerly retired by law.?
interesting though
My understanding is he has retired. But who knows, there’s probably some loophole BS being explored right now.
 
2 things. He may not have signed the appropriate paperwork yet, particularly if he knew he was going to do this.
Secondly, do you think the AFL won't make a hasty change to the rules if they can get Dusty up to their GC franchise?
With the AFL the one thing we know is if it’s in their interest, all bets are off.
 
Two of my grandkids have already seen him play both on telly and in person. The older one (she’s 5) always yells out ‘Dusty! Dusty!’ when she sees him on the tv.

Now, if he goes, how do I explain to her that yes he did retire but now he’d rather play for another team?

Just tell your grandkids Dusty loves Richmond so much he wanted to leave a spot at Richmond for a young player to have the opportunity to be a future champion, otherwise we would lose that young player and they could end up going to one of our enemies.

If that doesn't work, get back to us, we will make up something else. ;)
 

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Player Watch #4 Dustin Martin is the GOAT and King of Punt Rd.

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