Damien Hardwick says “no foundation” to rumour of massive $1.6 million offer for Dustin Martin
RIVAL clubs are circling Tiger Dustin Martin but coach Damien Hardwick is unfazed by the protracted contract talks and has questioned reported mega offers for his star.
Richmond
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RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick is not worried about the protracted contract talks with Dustin Martin, and rubbished the $1.6m figure being bandied around for the rock star midfielder.
Martin has been linked with several clubs including North Melbourne and Essendon, with most speculation claiming the Bombers are prepared to shell out $1.6m a season for Tigers matchwinner.
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“1.6 yeah, makes me wish I was Dusty. It’d be nice,” Hardwick said.
“It is what it is, it’s the age that we’re in, the figures get bandied around.
“No one is any more aware than us, those figures are easy to say. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know.
“It’s easy for an SEN commentator to say, but there is no foundation to that basis.
“We’re not too worried about it, we know where it is, once we know more you’ll know more.”
Looking ahead to Saturday night’s game against North Melbourne, Hardwick said the Tigers must take their chances in front of goal.
The Tigers had 29 more inside 50s than Essendon last week yet scored just one more goal.
Hardwick said fixing that would be a focus at training this week and beyond.
“We got to take our chances when we go forward,” Hardwick said at Punt Rd.
“We probably didn’t do that as well as we would have liked last week, something we spoke about to our players and we’ll be training over the course of this week and the weeks going forward because we’re probably not making the most of our chances inside 50 at the moment.”
The Tigers have lost seven of the past eight games against North Melbourne and Hardwick is wary of the Kangaroos scoring power.
But that record stands for nothing on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.
“Each game is different obviously, we’re a different side this year, they’re a different side compared to what they were last year as well,” Hardwick said.
“The bearing of the run of games really has no bearing on this result, we’re happy with the way we’re playing, the template we’re bringing to the game as well so we’re hoping for a different outcome this time.
“We know if we play our best footy we certainly give ourselves a chance to win.”
The Kangaroos blitzed Carlton last week, booting seven goals to two in the first quarter to set up the hard-fought victory.
“I think the thing with North (is) at some stage they’re going to get a run on, that’s the way they play,” Hardwick said.
“They’re a good counterattacking side and they are going to get a run on of goals, we just got to accept that, understand when that happens we try and negate that as best we can and try and deflect the scoreboard damage as best we can.”
The Tigers could be tempted to recall Ben Lennon to provide a marking target inside 50.
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