The Gold Coast Suns must target Dustin Martin this off-season, writes James Hird

THE Gold Coast Suns are in deep trouble and there is only one man who can save them. His name is Dustin Martin. JAMES HIRD explains why the AFL should make it happen.

The Gold Coast Suns need Dustin Martin, says James Hird. Picture: George Salpigtidis

GOLD Coast Suns need Dustin Martin. Badly.

Dusty is the best player in the competition. He is out of contract in nine weeks and a free agent.

The Suns have never played finals and they won’t this year. The AFL has invested heavily into the franchise and after seven years, they should be playing September football.

Between Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt the AFL invested many millions of dollars to help GWS Giants and the Suns get off the ground.

17 IN 17: WHO MADE THE BEST TEAM OF THE 21ST CENTURY

17 IN 17: BEST AND WORST AFL GRAND FINALS

17 IN 17: SCANDALS THAT ROCKED THE AFL

The Giants are potentially a great football team and capable of winning this year’s premiership — and next year’s.

The Giants came into being a year after Gold Coast but it is the Suns that finds themselves in desperate need of relevance, something it has lost, if it ever had it, in a market dominated by rugby league, union and soccer.

Gold Coast has to play football that people want to watch. They need to win more games than they lose.

Should the Gold Coast look at recruiting Dustin Martin? Picture: Getty Images

A centre square of “Two-metre” Peter Wright, Dustin Martin, Jack Martin and Gary Ablett combined with Tom Lynch at centre-half forward, Sam Day at full-forward, Rory Thompson at centre-half back and Steven May at full-back would give the coaches and recruiters at Gold Coast a spine and midfield to work with.

And beyond pure football concerns, Dusty would give the people of the Gold Coast a name.

My Martin plan runs counter to my core football philosophy — that investing in youth and growing organically is the way to build a footy club.

But these are desperate times on the Coast. The Suns can’t afford to wait.

They need a reason for 35,000 people to come to Metricon Stadium week in, week out. They need a reason for young footballers to want to play for the club.

Dustin Martin will earn a lot of money wherever he plays next season, but it will be money well spent.

He is a player we turn the TV on to watch. He changes games and makes everyone around him walk taller. Damien Hardwick is a friend and I hate to make his life harder, but the AFL and Gold Coast need him more than the Tigers do.

If I was sitting in a big office at the Gold Coast Suns I would offer Dustin Martin $1.6 million a year for six years — $10m in total.

I would do everything I could to convince Gary Ablett to finish what he left Geelong to do and I would trade the top draft pick (currently No.5) for another ready-made elite midfielder.

Ablett and the two Martins are very different players but they are all extremely skilled and natural goalkickers.

If they got on a roll together over the course of a season, it would be a nightmare for opposing coaches. Who would you tag? Who would you try and exploit?

Underachievement is not only a problem for the Gold Coast, it’s a huge issue for the AFL.

The league chose the Gold Coast over a Tasmanian franchise. It has poured millions of dollars into the Gold Coast market and needs a credible team.

That is why the AFL should pay half of Dustin’s money.

Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau did not become great AFL footballers, but they were effective ambassadors for the game in the northern states.

On that basis, some dollars kicked in from Docklands for Dusty is a no-brainer.

Powerful and explosive, at 26 he has the potential to dominate the midfield for the next five years and then create bedlam in the forward line as he ages, in a similar style to Gary Ablett Sr.

Gold Coast should go hard for Martin and kick-start its climb from the foothills to the AFL summit.