Please Explain: Glenn McFarlane urges Daisy Thomas and Dustin Martin to consider staying put

IN this week's Please Explain, Glenn McFarlane advises Dustin Martin and Daisy Thomas that "better" offers might not be what they seem.

Dustin Martin

DEAR Dusty (Martin) and Daisy (Thomas),

First, let us say, that in coming out of contract with Richmond and Collingwood, you are well within your rights to test the market and get the possible financial deal possible.

You are both outstanding footballers and form key planks of your teams' plans in chasing their next premiership.
So you deserve your fair whack.

And in Daisy's case, you have earned the right by your time in the game to exercise your restricted free agency rights.

But in saying all that, just because you are out of contract and in demand from opposition clubs doesn’t mean you have to leave the clubs you are at right now.

In fact, this column believes both of you are better off - from a footy perspective at least - in staying with the Tigers and the Magpies.

Let's start with you, Dusty. All season we’ve waited for you to sign on the bottom line, but no signature has been forthcoming. The speculation has continued to grow.

There was the early Richmond offer followed by a push to find some more dollars in the Punt Rd bottom line.

And still no deal, despite assurances from seemingly all and sundry that the negotiations were “very close” and “almost done.”

We understand you are chasing around $600,000 per season – more than $150k up on your current deal - but the Tigers are not willing to go much past the $500k mark.

And the financial wriggle room at Richmond is miniscule, with the salary cap close to the brim.

St Kilda is said to be keen to open the pursestrings on a player such as you, while North Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney have also been linked to your 22-year-old self.

But, the thing that you need to ask yourself is - haven't the Tigers done the right thing by you, at times when you have needed them the most?

Remaining a one-club player might cost you a little bit of cash now, but it might go a long way to getting the most out of his footy prospects and maybe even your future.

It's fair to suggest that Richmond has done everything in its power to maintain the stability around you.

I’m sure even you would admit that you are not the easiest player to handle and club officials and your teammates have been there for you – sometimes on a daily basis – if you need them.

That includes regular lunch and dinner appointments with teammates. And the likes of captain Trent Cotchin and development coach Mark Williams, not to mention senior coach Damien Hardwick, have been ready, willing and able to support you at all times.

For the most part, it has worked.

But if we believe at least a snippet of the scuttlebutt, it wouldn’t take much for it not to work. And shifting clubs, perhaps even shifting states, could put that at some risk.

So, hopefully for the Tigers’ sake, and for your own, you and your manager Ralph Carr come to the conclusion that the risk is not worth taking.

Besides that, Richmond is fast approaching the premiership window, and if you hang around long enough to become a member of the first Tigers’ team to win a flag in more than 30 years, you would go down as one of the immortals.

And that would lead to a financial boon for the club, and long beyond your playing career, for you.

Hopefully you can finalise a new deal to stay at Punt Rd before the finals, so that the distraction can go away.

Just ask Travis Cloke now if his 2012 contract saga affected his form.

Dale Thomas

As far as Daisy goes, we'd like you to remain at Collingwood for very different reasons than we'd like to see Dusty commit to Richmond.

The only stability that we are worried about with you, Daisy, is with the troublesome ankle injury that has stalled your playing career.

As a restricted free agent, several clubs have enquired about you, predominantly Carlton, though the Blues have played down the suggestions that you could be reunited with Mick Malthouse in 2014.

But for the sake of your footy career, it might be better to stick it out with the Magpies.

You only managed five matches this season after surgery in April, and the near-certainty of more surgery in the coming weeks or months.

All of this puts your 2014 season in jeopardy as you seek what your coach Nathan Buckley terms "second and third opinions" on how you can best get yourself back on the field.

The last thing you need next year is a heightened expectation that will come from signing a massive deal to go to Carlton, or Gold Coast, or anywhere for that matter.

Just imagine the pressure that will be on you when you try and run out for your first game in navy blue, or whatever colour it might be.

Sure, there will still be pressure on you if it is in black and white, but it won’t be as intense. You can just get on and, hopefully, play footy.

The offers that have – and will come – will likely be more than Collingwood has scope to pay. But as your president always says, Magpie players are always looking after long beyond the terms of playing careers.

So it will be a tough call because, at 26, this will be the biggest contract of your career. You have to weigh up all the costs, and the risks, to make the right decision.

Anyway, thanks for listening, guys.

We really love watching you both play, but for the reasons outlined, we reckon you are better off staying than chasing the extra coin.

Yours Sincerely,
Glenn McFarlane