After Thursday night’s game against Carlton, something became clear.
Richmond must re-sign Dustin Martin if they want to achieve anything in the next few years.
Martin was best on ground with 33 disposals and four goals while setting up another three or four.
This was the perfect start for the star Tiger, especially when Martin and his manager have said that contract talks are off until the end of the season.
Richmond must be willing to match whatever the competition is ready to pay for the midfielder. This is not just because of his performance on Thursday night.
The 25-year-old is coming into the best form of his career. This is shown with a steady rise in his last two years in Brownlow voting finishing seventh in 2015 with 21 votes and a third-place finish in 2016 with 25 votes.
Martin has been on the cusp of being regarded as an elite midfielder but after his Round 1 performance he has elevated himself into that category.
Richmond would be confident that Martin will re-sign as the club has been a great supporter to him especially in the early years of his career when he moved from country Victoria into Melbourne city.
During his issues with the media and the law in the previous few years, the club has stood by him.
From reports, Richmond have offered Martin around $800,000 a year but there have been rumours that other clubs are ready to offer him more than a million bucks to leave the Tigers.
It will be interesting to follow the contract talks at the end of the season as the salary cap is set to increase. With the rise that could bring Richmond’s $800,000 to $1,000,000 and keep Martin at Punt Road.
It is hard when there is a squad of 45 players and everyone has to be paid, but if Richmond fail to sign Dustin Martin it would be a massive setback for the Tigers.
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