Paul Roos warns Dustin Martin of Gold Coast Suns move, retirement, Damien Hardwick, Richmond Tigers, commentary, latest news

Former Sydney Premiership coach Paul Roos has warned the arrival of Dustin Martin on board could cause disillusionment within the Gold Coast’s playing ranks.

Last week, the Suns confirmed they were in talks with Martin over a possible extension to his AFL career after three-time Norm Smith Medallist retired with three games remaining in the Tigers’ season.

Roos said if he were head coach Damien Hardwick he would not consider a move for the 33-year-old despite his rumoured interest in a move north.

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“If I’m coaching the Suns, I’ll call Dusty and say, ‘mate, you’ve had a great career, it’s fantastic, if you ever want a ticket to a game, come on, we’d love to have you. You’ve been an icon of the game, ride off into the sunset,'” Roos told ABC’s AFL Daily podcast.

“He’s retired, he’s given everything he could to Richmond Football Club, I don’t know what Damien Hardwick thinks… but I’m texting him saying… ‘you’ve been hard to coach but it’s been great to watch you play, all the best for the future’.”

Roos said current Gold Coast players might be unhappy with the club going after a retired player, regardless of Martin’s past achievements.

“It’s so interesting, especially with him being retired, it’s an added factor. If he had played 20 games this year and the Suns had talked him into going up there, maybe it would have been a different conversation,” Roos said.

“We’re bringing in a player who’s retired, a Richmond legend. Does that send the wrong message? Probably – it probably does, it sends the message to your team that ‘I don’t have confidence in you, I’m going to bring in a player who’s retired now… to come in and take us where we want to go’.”

“Unless Dimma (Hardwick) went to the leadership group, or the leadership group went to Dimma and said ‘we want Dustin Martin’ – without that conversation, I think it sends the wrong message.”

Gold Coast have focused heavily on their second half of the season since the end of the season and are open to bringing in Daniel Rioli (Richmond) and John Noble (Collingwood) via trade.

Key defender Charlie Ballard joined fellow forward Mac Andrew in committing long-term to the Suns by signing an extension through the end of 2029 on Tuesday.