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Dustin Martin has said no to a big-money offer from North Melbourne and signed a seven-year contract worth more than $1.2 million a season with the Richmond Tigers.
Martin informed North Melbourne on Thursday that he had decided to remain with Richmond, but the deal was officially announced in LeBron James-like fashion on The Footy Show.
AFL list management series
18 – Brisbane Lions
17 – Gold Coast Suns
16 – Carlton Blues
15 – North Melbourne Kangaroos
The news comes as a massive boost to Richmond on the eve of finals, knowing that their best player and likely 2017 Brownlow Medallist will likely finish his career with them as a one-club player.
It is sure to generate a huge burst of positive energy around the club that Tigers fans will be hoping lifts them up and over Geelong when the two meet in a preliminary final next Friday.
The Tigers can now continue building their future around the presence of star players Martin, Alex Rance, Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
As for North Melbourne, the news is surely a disappointing blow and bound to draw a few jabs and japes for their inability to get the deal – and not undeservedly.
The club will now turn their attention to their other big target this off-season, 22-year-old Giant Josh Kelly, though there are many saying he too will choose to remain where he is.
If that happens then the Roos will have a serious amount of salary cap space starting to burn a whole in their pocket, and who knows what they might decide to do with it.
The deal also has the added benefit of making large portions of my North Melbourne off-season analysis obsolete less than a day after it was published – cheers, Dusty.
For now though, the story is the Dustin Martin and the Richmond Tigers, committed to each other for the next seven years, at which point Martin will be 33.
Who knows what they can achieve together in that time? Richmond fans will be and should be excited to find out.