Moneyball: Jacob Weitering Carlton’s signing priority, plan to have Dustin Martin’s 300th game at MCG in danger
Jacob Weitering’s next deal is the priority for Carlton’s list management team — but the signatures of three other key Blues are looming large as their contracts run down.
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Jack Martin’s latest soft tissue issue will put on hold talks for a new deal with Carlton until the back end of this season, with the injury-hit forward telling Moneyball recently that IKON Park is “where I want to be”.
Martin was a late withdrawal from last week’s loss to Sydney after suffering an injury at training just days after his only AFL game of the season.
Both parties had been eager to park the conversation in the final year of Martin’s five-season deal with the Blues until he managed to get a body of work into him.
There have been a few rival clubs keeping tabs on the highly-talented but luckless Martin, but the 29-year-old will want to put an end to some of the question marks on his durability in the second half of 2024 before deciding the next step in his future.
Asked if he wanted to stay at Carlton, Martin told this masthead recently: “Absolutely. It is where I want to be. But I have been focusing on trying to get my body right and that’s been my main focus.
“This (Carlton) is where I want to be. I love the boys.”
The Blues have done most of the heavy lifting in terms of their key 2024 signings, with the short to medium turn focus turning to locking away four of its high-end stars before the start of next season.
Vice-captain Jacob Weitering, who has one more year on a deal, is the prime focus for Carlton’s list management team. He seems certain to stay.
But the plan also includes having deals done for three others before the start of next season —Adam Cerra, Adam Saad and Blake Acres, who have all made big impressions since joining the Blues from rival AFL clubs.
They are all contracted until the end of 2025, but the club is eager to lock them away well before that time.
SIX RIVALS CIRCLE MARTIN, MCG MILESTONE IN DOUBT
Richmond’s ever-expanding injury-list could yet derail the club’s plans to celebrate Dustin Martin’s 300th AFL game at the MCG - the place where he has played his best footy - in the round 14 home clash with Hawthorn on June 15.
A series of recent meetings between Martin’s manager Ralph Carr and Tigers officials have settled on plans to honour the publicity shy 32-year-old, who is struggling for form and motivation in the final year of his celebrated seven-year-deal signed on the eve of the 2017 finals series.
The club plans to ‘manage’ Martin for one game in order to avoid a milestone match at the Adelaide Oval, against the Crows the previous week.
They are desperate for him to become the seventh Richmond player to reach 300 games at the MCG, where he has played 168 of his 297 games, including the 2017 and 2019 grand finals.
But a complicating factor is that the Tigers have been so badly hit by injuries - they have only 27 fit players to choose from - that any more setbacks in the next few weeks might force them to keep playing Martin to ensure they can field the right numbers.
Martin has made no decision about his future beyond this season, a narrative that will likely run through the remainder of the season.
It is understood up to six clubs have inquired about Martin’s future in the game, although teammates believe the superstar is likely to retire at season’s end.
This masthead understands Martin won’t do any media interviews in the lead-up to his milestone - sticking to a long-held tradition - but has agreed to be in a photo with the five surviving Tiger 300-gamers - former teammates Trent Cotchin, Jack Riewoldt, Shane Edwards and club greats Kevin Bartlett and Francis Bourke.
They will congregate at Punt Road in front of the Jack Dyer statue, who was the first Richmond player to reach 300 games.
Richmond will also unveil a documentary on Martin’s extraordinary career, which has included three Norm Smith Medals, a Brownlow Medal and three premierships.
Among those interviewed for the documentary were former coach Damien Hardwick, who could coax Martin north to the Gold Coast at season’s end.
DO TIGERS NEED WOODEN SPOON?
The man who helped recruit Hawthorn’s premiership dynasty says Richmond would secure a massive advantage in winning its eighth wooden spoon this season.
The Roos have long been favoured to finish last given their lack of wins so far this year but Richmond has just a single victory and nearly 20 injuries on their official medical list.
Last year the Roos win in round 24 against Gold Coast in what is being dubbed the costliest four points this century given it lost them the rights to Eagles sensation Harley Reid.
While Geelong put Mark Blicavs, Gary Rohan and Jeremy Cameron in for early surgeries and did not select Zach Tuohy or Tom Hawkins (hamstring) in round 24, the Roos were “hellbent” on victory.
They are yet to win again this year but with an improving side look more chance than Richmond - with successive losses by more than 90 points - to salute this year.
The Tigers percentage is only about six goals ahead of North Melbourne, with their round 21 fixture at Marvel Stadium a chance to decide the wooden spoon.
Richmond’s departing chief executive Brendon Gale said on Monday he did not believe in bottoming out, but if the Tigers get the chance to cash in on an early pick it could have rich rewards.
It would allow them the first pick in the national draft and rookie draft and even allow them to secure an uncontracted player through the pre-season draft.
Former Hawthorn recruiting boss Gary Buckenara said Richmond had to seize the day given it was already in the bottom reaches of the ladder.
“North Melbourne thought that was a game they needed to win (last year) but they didn’t need to win it. You play the kids, you get players fixed who are injured. Harley Reid would have been a bit of a help right now,” he told the Herald Sun.
“The problem for sides who find themselves down the bottom with Tassie coming in is finishing bottom might only give you pick 10.
“The draft has a big impact on your ability to rebuild. So if you get a chance this year and possibly next year do it well or you could be down the bottom for a very long, long time.’
The Roos were the big losers from the round 24 results last year.
On the same day Fremantle beat Hawthorn, the Suns lost to the Roos and secured the No. 4 overall pick, eventually turning that pick into six late first-round selections to secure points for their quartet of academy selections.
The Roos had already warehoused George Wardlaw and Jaidyn Stephenson and had 10 players out for the season but found a way to win by 35 points.
Eastern Ranges 194cm mid Josh Smillie is a No. 1 overall contender, as are Oakleigh Chargers pair Josh O’Sullivan and Jagga Smith with key position prospects making their way into top-10 calculations.
While this year shapes as an even draft the national championships will see elite prospects emerge and Buckenara says the first pick would give Richmond so many choices.
“(The wooden spoon) gives you the first pick but also another pick at 19 so you nearly get two picks in the first round. You can also be specific with the types of players you need. If you need you can pick key position type players because they are just so hard to find.”
Essendon forward Jake Stringer is content to secure a two-year deal with the Dons as negotiations continue for the star match winner.
His management had been in talks with the Dons and in an ideal world he would have secured a three-season deal to get security after missing out on a big pay day across his turbulent career.
But with Essendon making clear they aren’t interested in a long deal he will have to settle for two seasons.
He has made clear to the club he is happy with two years because it will put him on edge and ensure he continues to be motivated to perform for Essendon.
Richmond’s Rhyan Mansell won’t play in Saturday night’s Dreamtime clash with Essendon on Saturday night, but he has locked in a new two-year deal.
Mansell, 23, joined the Tigers’ ever-expanding injury list in last week’s annihilation at the hands of Brisbane last week when he entered concussion protocols after a heavy knock.
The deal will see him locked into Punt Rd until the end of the 2026 season.
He has been able to secure a spot in the past year and a bit, having played 17 games last year with another nine coming this season.
Mansell is just nine games short of a 50-game milestone.
Brent Harvey, the AFL’s games record-holder, is getting a weekly reminder that Scott Pendlebury is still a chance to knock him off the mantle.
His Collingwood mates keep texting him about it.
The former North Melbourne superstar played 432 matches in a celebrated AFL career before being prematurely retired by the club - at 38 - after the 2016 season.
It was the footy record that was never meant to be broken, but with the Herald Sun revealing Pendlebury will play on for a 20th season, it leaves him with an outside chance of taking the mantle off ‘Boomer’.
Pendlebury has played 393 games and with half a season and likely finals to come as well as next year on the horizon, he still has a chance of reeling Harvey in.
The 36-year-old won’t have much margin for error - in terms of missing games with injury or being managed - but Harvey said if the Magpies champion can get through another season and a bit, he will be a worthy record holder.
“All my mates who barrack for Collingwood are out of the woodwork and are texting me about Pendles breaking the record,” Harvey told Moneyball.
“His game on the weekend was amazing (against Adelaide). He had the ball on a string and you can see why he wants to play on.
“People say ‘Would you be spewing if he gets there’ .. but I know how hard and professional he has been for so long because that’s what you have to be to play for that long.
“I would be putting my hand out to congratulate him if he does it.
Harvey, now 46, said the record had been something which he had always treasured, having always been introduced as the games record holder.
But he jokingly threw out the suggestion that, perhaps, he and Pendlebury could share the 432-game honour if the Magpies midfielder reaches the tally in the 2025 grand final - just as Don Bradman and Mark Taylor once famously shared the 334 highest run tally for Australia.
“That’d be kind of special,” Harvey said.
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