Dusty relief for Tigers, but what about North Melbourne?

After months of making Tigers fans sweat with anticipation over his signature, Dustin Martin finally put pen to paper and signed one of the richest deals in AFL history.

It is believed to be a eight-million-dollar deal over the next seven years. He turned his back on ten million with North Melbourne over the next seven, according to sources.

Could the initial heartbreak for North Melbourne be good for the club that is in a rebuild, and showed impressive signs throughout 2017?

Dustin Martin has been in superb form this year and is one of the best players in the game, but do you think that a seven year deal at 1.2 million is really worth it for just one player? Yes, I understand the theory that Richmond is as ‘deep’ as Martin, and without him they would fall out of Premiership contention. But North Melbourne could catapult themselves back into the eight or even top four with clever manipulation of the spare 1.5 million they are believed to have and the 20 per cent increase in the collective bargaining agreement.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

Armed with draft picks, money in the salary cap, Rob Tarrant, Ben Brown, Brayden Preuss, Jack Ziebell, Ben Cunnington and Mason Wood, the North Melbourne core group of players is already well established and a good enough group to build around. Could they potentially spend money on two quality midfielders to complement Cunnington and Ziebell?

The jury is out on North’s kicking ability, Marley Williams is erratic with his kicking, Shaun Atley needs to slow down before he kicks, and Andrew Swallow nearly hits the roof everytime he kicks at Etihad. Could they inject sublime skill by dividing the money in their war chest among two players.

Josh Kelly is a great player, and it would be well worth North Melbourne’s time investing pick four and a long-term deal at $900,000 for him. But there are other ways they can attack this.

Devon Smith at Greater Western Sydney is one that springs to mind. Jacob Hopper is another. It could be wise of North to straight up offer the two of them 600 thousand each to lure them to North Melbourne.

GWS asking price will be high. Could they just ship out pick four for the two of them? Both are former top ten picks and established players. The two of them would make an automatic upgrade on their current midfield, and will increase the quality of supply to forwards Ben Brown and Mason Wood.

Todd Goldstein could be traded out this year. Freeing up another $850,000 which could be used towards a potential free agent in years to come. They could trade Goldstein out to a ruckman ‘needy’ team for a late first round pick, allowing them to trade out pick four and get back into the first round to inject some quality youth into their side.

While the initial disappointment of missing out on Dusty will disappoint North fans, I really do think that for their future it could end up paying dividends if they play their cards right.