In many instances, news that a footy player has decided to delay contract talks until the end of the season is good news in the respect that it removes a distraction.
There are cases, however, where a couple risks enter the picture, as the uncertainty of a career in professional sports is present with every step on the ground.
Clubs risk seeing a player have a breakout year, in which case the price of a new deal can escalate almost exponentially. For the players, the downside is a career-ending injury, which serves to reduce his or her market value from loft levels to zero.
Such is the quandary for Richmond Tigers star Dustin Martin, who is presenting his club and mates with a potentially drawn out negotiation concerning his future.
Martin is currently a restricted free agent and has decided that the course of delaying until the end of the season in order to consider his options, that is; see who is the most willing to spend money for him.
Martin will in all likelihood command a big contract, having 25 Brownlow votes alongside his name in 2016 and winning the Jack Dyer Medal as Richmond’s best and fairest.
Martin is also relatively unscathed by bad off field misbehaviour.
