Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says young gun Dustin Martin needs to find hobbies outside of football. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: Herald Sun
RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick said a summer priority was to find an off-field interest for young midfielder Dustin Martin.
Hardwick said today Martin, like all young players, needed the outside focus to avoid getting into trouble.
"Obviously, Dusty is an important player for us, there's no doubt about that. And one that we look forward to having a long and distinguished career with us,'' Hardwick said.
"Probably like a lot of our younger players, we're very, very keen for them to get something after footy.
"Dustin, throughout the year, when he has a very structured lifestyle is very, very good. But probably the off-season is the area we have to help him with.
"He needs to find something outside footy to keep him interested because the more time you've got, the more you're going to be social in your lifestyle.
"The reality is, 18, 19, 20-year-old kids, if they've got a lot of time, they'll certainly find some form of trouble at some stage.
"Dustin's a great kid. I love him, but he just has a few things that he has to work through. He's a very good kid, a kid that we think has an enormous future and we just have to work through a couple of things to keep him occupied off-field.''
Hardwick was responding to a Herald Sun report that Martin's erratic off-field behaviour was delaying a long-term contract for the 21-year-old midfielder.
Asked if Martin's life was off the rails, Hardwick told SEN: ``By no means is he as bad as that. He's just a young fellow who needs to find his way with a relationship off field, I suppose you would say.
"It's something we're working through with a number of our players, as most clubs would with their one to three year players.
"The reality of the situation is that he has to learn to manage himself. And he has done that reasonably well.
"He moved out (from living with president Gary March) midway through last year and bought himself a nice house. And he has got to learn life skills, like a lot of our younger players. So, he's just working through those at the moment.''
Martin's wayward behaviour is another headache for the Tigers who must decide what disciplinary action to take against recruit Aaron Edwards for his drunken exploits last weekend.
"It's fair to say he nearly had the shortest (stay) in the history of the Richmond footy club, to be honest,'' Hardwick said.
"Aaron was embarrassed by it. We all make mistakes as we know and he has learnt a pretty harsh lesson and we'll deal with that when our leadership group gets back.
"It's something we're trying to crack out of, not just Richmond, but footy clubs in general. You've got a great responsibility to be a role model within this game and it's not something we like to see our players do, or any player in the AFL for that matter.''
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