AFL: Richmond coach Adem Yze says Shai Bolton’s future not in doubt

Richmond coach Adem Yze wants more transparency over player movement but has hit out at speculation over a Tigers star.

Richmond coach Adem Yze has hit out at “disrespectful” speculation Shai Bolton could depart the club but says he’s sympathetic to players weighing up their futures mid-season.

Yze said he would pick players who had told him they would be leaving the club, repeating his comments earlier this week that he supported the greater transparency of player movement embraced by the NRL.

It comes as Tigers superstar Dustin Martin, who will miss Sunday’s clash against GWS due to an ongoing back issue, weighs up his future at the club along with West Australian free agent Liam Baker.

The Richmond coach said he understood the interest in out-of-contract players but said reports about Bolton, who has four years remaining on his deal, were disappointing.

“I don’t need to have that discussion (about Bolton’s future). He’s one of our best players and he’s contracted,” Yze said on Thursday.

“The contract stuff is irrelevant, and the speculation around what he’s doing next year is I think a little bit disrespectful.

Adem Yze says reports linking Shai Bolton to a trade away from Richmond are ‘disrespectful’. Picture: Will Russell / Getty Images

“He’s got four years to run on his contract, and he’s one of our best players … my responsibility is making sure he’s playing good footy.”

Yze said the AFL was ready for players to disclose their intentions to move clubs during the season.

Players have rarely told clubs of their movements before the season’s end, but Lachie Henderson informed Carlton he would seek a trade with three games remaining in 2015 and was left out for the rest of the season.

The AFL Players’ Association raised concerns at the time but it was reported Henderson was fine with the Blues’ decision so he could avoid injury and potential damage to his trade value.

“I would (pick those players) – I feel for the players when they’re going through this, when they’ve got the weight of the world on their shoulders and they’re carrying this burden through the whole season,” Yze said.

“I think we’re at a point right now where as an industry we could be ready for that.

“For example, if one of our players decided in the middle of the year that he was going to leave, and he spoke to the playing group, spoke to our leaders … you’ll sense the buy-in.

“By releasing that (burden), I think they’ll play better anyway, and in the end that’s all we want. I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t do it.

Yze said the Tigers would regain veteran midfielder Dion Prestia against GWS but Martin would spend another week on the sidelines after he came from the field with back spasms against Carlton in round 16.

Dustin Martin will miss at least one more game with a back problem after he was subbed out of the round 16 clash against Carlton. Picture: Daniel Pockett / Getty Images

“(Martin’s back) is still a little bit sore. We’ve made the decision that if we try and train today, it might keep aggravating it, so we’re going to give him this week off so he can have a proper run into the following week,” Yze said.

“It’s still a bit grumbly, so if he tries to go out there – it’s cold and things like that, so he won’t train today and he won’t play.

“It’s only the last couple of weeks when we subbed him out, that was the first time it started to spasm. He’s playing a little bit of golf at the moment so maybe he’s twisting the wrong way, it might be his golf swing.

“I don’t think it complicates (his decision on next season) – carrying injuries like that at his age his hard. He might have been able to do it when he was 25, but right now, we’ve just got to help him through that.”

Yze said Tom Lynch’s return from a hamstring strain had been pushed back to get a two-week block of training into the luckless key forward before he returned.

The coach insisted it was “still worthwhile” for Lynch to play games this season.

“We can give him an opportunity to get back and get two weeks of volume into him. When he’s available, we’ll still have a month of footy … he can get some real benefit from the last month moving into the end of season,” he said.