Kane Cornes thinks 2024 is the right time for Richmond great Dustin Martin to hang up the boots.
Cornes wrote an article in The Age titled, ‘Don’t argue, Dusty: Why it’s time for Richmond champion to retire’, and he stood by his take while speaking to Gerard Healy on SEN Sportsday.
Cornes thinks that the three-time premiership player, three-time Norm Smith medallist, Brownlow medallist and four-time All-Australian simply doesn’t think there’s anything left for the 32-year-old to achieve in the game.
With Richmond also no longer in a premiership window, Cornes isn’t sure whether Martin should finish his career in a rebuilding team as his form naturally declines with age.
“I just think it's time in terms of there's nothing left for him to achieve,” Cornes told Sportsday.
“And with where the club is at, they're about to go through a brutal stage I would have thought.
“If we're looking at Hawthorn, North and West Coast (in terms of their rebuild), Richmond are not even there yet. They need to completely bottom out and start again.
“Does Dustin Martin want to go through that and then have questions over his form like he will get like Buddy Franklin had when he played probably one more year (than he maybe should have)? Just like Scott Pendlebury is facing now to a lesser extent.
“He's about to turn 33. Does he want to go through this at Richmond?
“Does he want to turn up to the club loss after loss with everything that he's done in the game?”
While some might argue that Martin could go to another club for a final shot at a fourth flag, Cornes isn’t sure how successful any move would be at Martin’s age.
“You might go, well, he should go to another club,” Cornes said.
“But how often does that work at 33 years old? How often is that successful?
“Luke Hodge may have been successful. But I'd just much rather have seen him (Hodge) finish at Hawthorn as the champion that he was.”
With game 300 on the horizon for Martin, Cornes thinks that this year is the perfect time for Martin to go out on his own terms and be remembered as a player that walked away still somewhere close to the top of his game.
“Is he fully motivated? Is he fully invested? Does he turn up to train? Does he want to be there? Is he good for the group? Is his form going to be strong enough?” Cornes asked.
“He's down about 10 possessions a game. I don't think he's having anywhere near the impact that he had last year, albeit it's two games.
“It's going to be hard for him in a poor side to have the impact that he's had.
“He plays game 300 this year, it's a great time to give him one of the great laps of honour.
“I think the question for him is, am I motivated to turn up and be the best that I can be and be all in with this group that's going to be down the bottom?
“I just think it's a good time for him to go out on his own terms like how Shane Crawford or Joel Selwood went out, there's not too many that do it on their own terms.
“That was my view.”
Martin is set to miss Richmond's clash against Sydney at the SCG on Sunday with a calf issue.
The Tiger comes out of contract at the end of the 2024 season.
Read Cornes’ piece on Martin in The Age HERE.
