AFL 2023: Jack Riewoldt on keeping Dustin Martin at Richmond, Damien Hardwick departure ahead of new book

With North Melbourne throwing everything at him in 2017, Dustin Martin’s teammates didn’t know if he was going to stay or go. But they weren’t going to give up on him easily.

Tigers great Jack Riewoldt has revealed the last-ditch ring around he launched to try to prove to Dustin Martin that he should stay at Punt Road before the club’s premiership era began.

Martin was courted by a blockbuster $11 million offer from North Melbourne in 2017 as he toyed with leaving Richmond.

His Tiger teammates had no clue whether he would jump ship as the club began a winning run that would last until the grand final that year and in an attempt to convince him to stay, Riewoldt rang a memorabilia expert to prove staying put was worth more in the long run.

In his book, The Bright Side, Riewoldt reveals he called Russell Taylor of Taylormade Memorabilia about the issue.

Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt embrace. Picture: Michael Klein

Taylor then rang Martin’s manager Ralph Carr as Carr calculated the difference in value of playing for the Tigers compared to the Roos.

“I won’t ever know (if it made a difference) but that was myself and (teammate) Shaun Grigg who were desperate to make him see the value in him being a Richmond premiership player compared to – and take this with a grain of salt and it is not meant to be disrespectful – being a North Melbourne premiership player,” Riewoldt told this masthead.

“I think the difference in a marketability point of view is exponential and we have actually seen that work itself out, but I take very little credit.”

Martin signed a lucrative deal with Richmond that is due to expire in 2024 and won the Norm Smith Medal as best-on-ground in each of the three Tiger premierships.

Riewoldt acknowledged Martin staying with Richmond – after turning down a pitch from the GWS Giants years before – was a sliding doors moment in footy history.

Martin and Riewoldt would go on to become crucial parts of three flags. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

“Clearly Dustin is arguably one of the top 5-10 players to ever play the game so he has a direct correlation to Richmond being successful and those three Norm Smiths in those three grand finals have been pivotal to all of us being successful,” Riewoldt said.

“I probably wouldn’t be writing a book if we hadn’t had that success.”

Martin’s commitment and the glory run of 2017 only came after Richmond’s nightmare 2016 season.

Riewoldt reveals in his book that the club’s involvement with renowned motivational speaker Gerard Murphy was a disaster, in which the club almost tore itself apart when forced to give frank feedback to teammates and staff.

The full-forward believed that nightmare year had taught the club exactly what it didn’t want to be culturally.

Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin retired together this year. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Riewoldt was heavily courted that year by Essendon and spoke to then-Bombers coach John Worsfold on the phone but never seriously contemplated leaving.

A meeting with captain Trent Cotchin in late 2016 at St Rose cafe in Essendon cemented an idea between the pair to try to revolutionise the club’s culture so its next generation, such as Daniel Rioli, could win premierships.

The pair told each other that day that they accepted they likely wouldn’t win a flag in their playing careers.

Little did Riewoldt know, his club would win three flags in the next four years.

After Cotchin recently revealed the moment Tigers coach Damien Hardwick cracked after a loss to Essendon this year, Riewoldt said he saw the signs earlier.

In the last pre-season, Hardwick focused on the team making the top four, a move that belied years of preaching about process instead of results.

Riewoldt was adamant there were no hard feelings about Hardwick moving on so quickly and joining Gold Coast months after he quit Richmond due to burnout.

Originally published as AFL 2023: Jack Riewoldt on keeping Dustin Martin at Richmond, Damien Hardwick departure ahead of new book