Former Essendon champion Tim Watson believes that Richmond star Dustin Martin will be playing at another club in 2018.
The Herald Sun yesterday reported that contract talks between the Tigers and Martin’s management had been put on hold until the end of the season, leading to mass speculation about the midfielder’s future.
“When you put off negotiations at this stage, it means one thing (he is going),” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“Look at (Patrick) Dangerfield last year, all year – deny, deny … it was already done.
“There are clubs that have been circling Dustin Martin for a couple of years.
“It would be my belief that there is already a deal that has already been agreed in principle somewhere…I would think he is staying in Victoria.”
Watson said that Martin, who won his first Jack Dyer Medal last season, is among the game’s elite midfielders when you compare him with his peers.
“The four very good very, very, very good midfielders – Dangerfield, Martin, (Scott) Pendlebury at 29 (years of age), Josh Kennedy in Sydney at 29 – you look at his stats over the past three years and match them against those other three players, its stands up,” he said.
“60 goals he has kicked in the past three years, only Dangerfield has kicked more at 62.
“I don’t think anyone that has watched Dusty play would say that he hasn’t got the capability to influence the team more than any other player on the ground when he’s in full swing.
“He’s a star.”
Ex-Melbourne skipper Garry Lyon, who said that he worried about the fate of Demon’s young gun Jesse Hogan last year when it was announced he too was putting contract talks on hold, told Richmond fans not to spend too much time worrying about the future of their star midfielder.
“Don’t stress about this, if he goes, you are going to be really well compensated. You are going to have the capacity to rebuild and get through the draft,” he said.
It isn’t the first time that Martin’s contract talks with Richmond have hit a snag. In 2013, he flirted with the idea of a club swap, even touring Greater Western Sydney’s facilities, before eventually re-committing to the Tigers.