Richmond coach Adem Yze aborted a plan to give superstar Dustin Martin a deadline to make a decision about his playing future and won’t waver despite renewed “speculation” he’s headed to the Gold Coast Suns.
As he mulled over whether taking the 32-year-old to Perth for Saturday’s clash with Fremantle could be “too much” after Martin was subbed out of last week’s loss to Carlton with a sore back, Yze said he shelved an early idea to ask for a decision from the off-contract star by the start of August.
Instead, the first-year coach said he wanted to focus on keeping the three-time Norm Smith medallist happy and enthusiastic about playing during what has been a challenging season for the Tigers who have won just two games.
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Addressing comments from Suns coach Damien Hardwick who said his club would be “crazy” not to look at Martin as possible recruit for 2025, with their premiership links stirring the speculation pot, Yze said only that a decision was “closer”.
“That’s all speculation,” Yze said on Thursday.
“All I know is walking into the building today, (he’s) bubbly, he’s enjoying being here,” Yze said.
“As I’ve said all along, he’ll make those decisions in the coming weeks on what he’s doing and what his future looks like.
“But right now, he’s thinking about getting out there and training and putting his hand up for selection.
“Earlier in the year I did try to push it and say ‘let’s look at the end of July or the start of August or whatever it is – just so that we can make those decisions’ and it’s obviously getting closer to that now.
“But we haven’t got a timeline on it other than the fact that we just want him happy and healthy while he’s here and he can make those decisions.”
The Martin decision isn’t the only one set to shape the immediate future direction of the Tigers, with vice-captain Liam Baker weighing up whether to stay or take big-money offers to return to Western Australia.
Yze said he’d told both players that the decision wasn’t something he’d talk to them about.
“He’s (Martin) been in a really good space for the last six weeks, I reckon,” Yze said.
“We had a discussion around that and said, ‘let’s not think about it until later in the year. And when you come in, let’s come in with some energy’ – same as the discussion I had with Liam Baker.
“It’s too hard to carry that sort of weight when you’re trying to work out what you’re gonna do and then still perform at a high level.
“So he’s in that mode right now and he seems pretty happy.”
Martin is unlikely to play the Dockers as part of a management plan to get him through to the end of the season.
“One, we want to make sure his back is okay, and then we’ll make a decision on his full body and whether the six-day break and the travel is going to be a bit too much,” Yze said.
