Former Herald Sun chief football writer Mike Sheahan has admitted he was not a fan of Dustin Martin broadcasting his decision to stay at Richmond via The Footy Show.
He said while the Tigers were accepting of Martin making his announcement in a paid interview, they were far from comfortable with the situation.
“I didn’t view the club any different, they were in a very awkward situation. I didn’t like it at all when the announcement was made on The Footy Show,” Sheahan said on SEN Breakfast.
“It’s a Richmond announcement, and I think they’ve articulated that.
“The problem they had was that because Dusty was seen to have conceded so many hundreds of thousands of dollars, then when he said I can get, I’m thinking 40 or 50k back by Channel Nine, they rolled over, but they didn’t do it with any degree of comfort.
“It seemed that the television station made the call, rather than the footy club.”
Tim Watson said while the TV interview may have been the only way to solidify Martin’s signature, he believed it made Richmond look like a small club, and made the individual look bigger than the club.
“They had to bend over so far to get this deal done,” he said.
“It makes the club look small doesn’t it? I understand why they did it, and probably it was the only thing they could do under the circumstances to make sure that deal went through, but it makes it look like an individual is bigger than the club.”