Former coach Rodney Eade backs Jack Martin to realise his potential at Carlton

Gold Coast is set to allow Jack Martin to walk to Carlton for free in the pre-season draft. And a former coach explains why he is an important part of the Blues 2020 puzzle.

Rodney Eade is confident Jack Martin will realise his potential with Carlton.

Jack Martin’s former coach Rodney Eade says he will provide a crucial point of difference in Carlton’s forward line as Gold Coast prepares to let him walk for free.

The 24-year-old will get to the Blues without losing a draft pick at 10am on Friday in the pre-season draft, with the Suns not prepared to redraft a player who is so desperate to get to an AFL rival.

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Gold Coast had its own win this week when it secured Jack Lukosius on top of its recontracting of Ben King and will enter 2020 with momentum rather than dealing with a year of speculation over Martin’s ongoing future.

But it means Carlton list boss Steve Silvagni’s parting gift to the Blues will be orchestrating a deal that secures the talented but inconsistent Sun without handing over a draft pick.

Eade coached Martin when he finished third in the best-and-fairest in successive seasons in 2016 and 2017, kicking 24 goals to go with 410 possessions in 2017.

He says not only is Martin a versatile player who can easily take his turn at half back, he is capable of 30 goals a year as a marking half-forward who pinch-hits in the midfield.

“He is a different type of player to what they have got. Forward lines need a different look,” he told the Herald Sun.

“He can mark it overhead, he is very good on the ground, he’s a different player to (Tom) Papley because he can take a mark.

Jack Martin played his best football while Rodney Eade was Gold Coast coach. Picture: Richard Gosling.

“He is 186cm and he has got good speed and agility. He is as good on the ground as he is in the air and he does add a different dynamic. He can go into the midfield and win the ball out of the centre square so he gives the Carlton coaching group a real flexible player who can go to half back and set the game up if he needs to.

“He is really super tough, can win a really hard ball, tackles well, can do some exciting stuff even if he floats in and out of the game.

“If there is enough ball coming down there he certainly could kick 30 goals, no doubt.”

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There is a window for delisted free agents between 8am-9am on Friday, only an hour before the pre-season and rookie drafts.

But the Suns are unlikely to delist Martin before the pre-season draft and Essendon’s Michael Hartley does not fit into that window on his way to Hawthorn because he delisted himself and isn’t eligible as a free agent delisted by a club.

Rodney Eade is confident Jack Martin will realise his potential with Carlton.

Carlton needs some summer momentum, having lost Charlie Curnow for Round 1 and with Harry McKay’s continuing groin issues now delaying his pre-season.

It means a slimmed-down Mitch McGovern and the reliable Levi Casboult might have to hold up the forward line early, with Eade sympathetic to David Teague’s plight.

“You know that the next corner you turn around, no matter how well you are going, there is going to be someone with a baseball bat who is going to whack you,” he said.

“It’s just the nature of it. Have a couple of injuries to key players, it can change everything around. But they will get those players back at the right time.”