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Richmond hasn’t seen the last of Dustin Martin, with senior coach Damien Hardwick adamant the three-time Norm Smith Medallist will be a Tiger in 2023 and beyond.
Martin had 15 disposals, eight contested possessions, one goal and three inside 50s in the thrilling two-point elimination final loss to Brisbane, after eight weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
The triple Norm Smith medallist went into the sudden-death final at 80 per cent fitness and his role was compromised when Dion Prestia left the field with a hamstring injury just before halftime that forced Martin into the midfield for more minutes than planned.
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Hardwick said Martin’s performance was “as expected” and was emphatic that the triple premiership star would remain at Punt Road.
“He’s got two years of his contract to run so as far as I’m concerned all the speculation comes from the people sitting over that side of the table (media),” he said.
“It’s pretty simple to me – if you guys keep talking about it, it creates speculation,“ he said.
“The reality is I’m telling you that he’s got two more years of his contract. He’s not going anywhere.”
There have been claims Martin wanted to explore a move to Sydney to continue his AFL career, with the Swans reportedly in the mix.
“We know he’s on $1.3 million for the next two seasons, he’s been umming and ahhing, he’s been telling people that he doesn’t love football anymore, maybe he needs a change of location, a change of geography,” journalist Sam McClure said on Channel Nine’s Footy Classified this week.
Hardwick said Martin handled the furore swirling around him over a controversial video leaked 24 hours before the final as best he could.
“We worry about the welfare of our players. But he manages to control that and gets on with it,” he said.
“It’s something I can’t really comment on as there’s an investigation going on, but we’ll work our way through that over the next week.”
Hardwick said taking Martin into the final at just 80 per cent fitness was a big call, but he was glad they opted out of also playing Jack Graham given he was also in the same category.
“The challenge was obvious with Dion going down early which hurts the balance of our midfield mix … we are fortunate if we went in with Jack Graham we’d have two players that weren’t quite to the level we needed,” he said.
Hardwick said the result summed up Richmond’s 2022 campaign that was ultimately “disappointing”. However he is bullish about 2023.
“We think we’ve got a really, really good squad of players that will forge forward. We are not looking to rebuild, we are looking to regenerate,” he said.
“We’ve got some young kids where we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.
“It’s a disappointing season, I’m not going to lie, I feel we are better.
“Getting beaten by what you know, really hurts. The players are hurting, our club is hurting and our fans will certainly be hurting.
“The brightest thing about Richmond is its future.”
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