Richmond’s senior advisor Neil Balme insists the club is not worried about the swirling Dustin Martin rumours.
Speculation persists that Martin could be considering a move to Sydney to be out of the Melbourne footy fishbowl.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick even opened up the idea by saying the Brownlow Medallist and three-time Norm Smith Medallist would depart with his blessing if he ever were to leave.
But Balme has never heard the Sydney idea come from Martin’s lips and says he is not too concerned about the talk.
“No, I haven’t, I must admit,” he said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“We’re not worried about it. This is a crazy world and all sorts of things happen, but if something really weird like that were to happen, we’d certainly listen to his story.
“But we’re pretty certain that won’t be an issue. We don’t think he has any real desire to get out of the Tigers. I’m sure that’s the case, but if something came up we would talk to him.”
Balme praised Hardwick for the way he addressed the speculation, saying the game has changed in recent years to be more across a person’s needs, wants and mental wellbeing than it previously has been.
“I really admire Damien for answering the way he did because in the old days you’d say, ‘No, he’s contracted and we wouldn’t let him go under no circumstances’, which is really our position,” he added.
“Our position is he’s contracted and we’d love him to stay, we hope he does and we think he will.
“But the truth is, if someone like Dusty who we respect so much as an individual, came to Damien and said, ‘there’s all these things happening in my life and I need to go to Sydney’, well we’d certainly have to listen to him. That’s really what he (Hardwick) said, we’d listen to him.
“From a pure footy point of view, we’ve done all the things we’ve needed to. We’ve contracted him, he’s committed to us, we’re committed to him, we want him to stay and he’s a great player for us ands we don’t want him to go anywhere.
“But if something really weird happened like has kind of happened in the world with COVID and losing his dad and those kinds of things, if something happened then of course we’d listen because we respect.
“We don’t think that will happen and obviously we’re very keen to keep him.”
Balme insists that Martin is a happier person after taking some time away from the game earlier this year.
“I think he’s pretty good,” he said.
“You never know for sure, but he looks pretty good to me and he’s starting to play some good footy again.
“We’re very excited about what he brings, obviously.”
He returned in the Round 8 win over Collingwood with 23 disposals and two goals before kicking three majors and picking up 20 touches in last weekend’s win over Hawthorn.
Martin, who is contracted until 2024, will be looking to bring that form into this Saturday night’s Dreamtime clash wth Essendon at the MCG.
On the injury front, Balme said Noah Balta “will certainly miss one or two” weeks with a hamstring injury while Jack Graham is considered a “reasonable chance, but no certainty” with a toe issue.