Wayne Carey responds after 'shocking' AFL rumour about Dustin Martin comes to light

Wayne Carey has dismissed the notion that Dustin Martin will want to get to 300 AFL games before retiring, amid bombshell new claims he's ready to walk away from the game. AFL reporter Tony Sheahan made the staggering claim on Monday that Martin wants to call it quits immediately, but Richmond are hopeful he plays on until he reaches the 300-game milestone.

The 32-year-old Martin has played 292 games across an illustrious career, which has seen him win a Brownlow Medal and three Norm Smith medals. However the veteran midfielder appears well past his best and is reportedly eyeing an immediate exit from the game.

“I’m hearing some shocking information out of Tigerland,” Sheahan said on 'The Truth Hurts' Podcast alongside Wayne Carey on Monday. “My understanding is that Dustin Martin is threatening to walk away, wants to finish on a high.

“He’s played 292 games, he played a good game yesterday against St Kilda, he was the number one possession-getter on the ground until half-time with 20 possessions. They weren’t great possessions. He’s not the Dusty we used to know, the best player in the competition, Brownlows, Norm Smiths, all that sort of stuff.

“But my understanding is that Richmond is in a tug of war about keeping Dusty in a Richmond jumper until he can make 300 games. As I’ve said, he’s played 292 as of yesterday. He’s told friends and family he can’t do it anymore. He wants to walk away.

“He’s fed up, can’t dealt with it, but Richmond, as I said, is grappling with the fact that he could walk away and they’re saying ‘you’ll regret this for the rest of your life if you don’t play 300 games. Just get to 300 and then we’ll work out what you want to do for the length of your contract and/or all the rest of this year’.”

Wayne Carey responds to Dustin Martin retirement bombshell

Carey said "this is news to me", adding: “He has been an unbelievably good player, but if he was to finish up at the end of the year or go away or find another club or whatever it may be, then he has the right to do that. I think he’s done enough in this game for us.

“The thing that people don’t understand about Dustin Martin and very few players are like him in the competition - probably Lance Franklin would be the only other one in modern times - can’t go anywhere in Australia without being recognised. This guy is a bit like Buddy, he’s quite shy - Buddy didn’t start out shy but in the end because of the star power that came along with being the best player in the comp for a long period of time - it’s very hard to understand what it is to live like that.”

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Sheahan said Martin playing 300 games “looks far better than 292”, but Carey said Dusty wouldn't care about the milestone. “You’re not in the sort of condition that Dusty is in and still playing the type of footy that he’s playing - yes he’s not grabbing games by the scruff of the neck like he used to and winning games, but he’s still an unbelievably good player,” Carey added.

Will Dustin Martin walk away from AFL this year?

Earlier this month, Kane Cornes urged Martin to bite the bullet and announce his retirement this year. "With where the club is at, they're about to go through a brutal stage I would have thought. If we're looking at Hawthorn, North and West Coast (in terms of rebuilding clubs), Richmond are not even there yet. They need to completely bottom out and start again," Cornes said.

“Does Dustin Martin want to go through that and then have questions over his form like he will get like Buddy Franklin had when he played probably one more year (than he should have)? Just like Scott Pendlebury is facing now to a lesser extent. He's about to turn 33. Does he want to go through this at Richmond? Does he want to turn up to the club loss after loss with everything that he's done in the game?”

But Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna said they couldn't see Martin walking away from his $600,000 per season contract while he's still playing good footy. “The real world is a bit tougher out there than the footy world. I’d suggest Dusty stays in the game as long as he possibly can and milk it dry," Riewoldt said.