Richmond superstar Dustin Martin faces more time on the sidelines in the second half of the AFL season as coach Adem Yze manages his senior players through a series of short breaks between matches.
Fresh off a mid-season bye, the Tigers (2-12) resume against old rivals Carlton at the MCG on Sunday before an interstate trip to face Fremantle.
Yze said Martin, who turned 33 on Wednesday, would “struggle” to play both of those matches.
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The Dockers clash comes after the first of three six-day breaks in five weeks, and is one of two during that period that involve air travel.
“We’ll sit down with him and work out a plan,” Yze said of Martin on Thursday.
“He’s going to be one of those players that we’ve got to decide with (because) we’re starting to prepare for eight-day breaks and six-day breaks.
“If he plays this weekend there will be a high risk that he might not be able to play against Freo.
“So we’ll sit down and try to map out a plan for a lot of those older guys, and he’ll be one of those.”
Martin was given a week off before playing his 300th AFL game in a loss to Hawthorn immediately before the bye.
The three-time Norm Smith medallist was given an emotional send-off after the milestone match, in what some onlookers took as a possible farewell.
Martin quashed those thoughts by returning to Punt Road after the bye and appears set to play out the rest of the season.
But the out-of-contract star’s playing future beyond this year remains uncertain, as does that of triple-premiership teammate Dylan Grimes.
Grimes, who turns 33 next month and is also out of contract this year, has undergone back surgery and won’t play again in 2024.
“He’s a leader of our footy club and obviously a terrific player, and for his season to finish the way it has is really sad,” Yze said.
“We’ll work out what that looks like later in the year but right now our priority is about getting him healthy and getting him back on his feet.
“He’ll make that decision (about whether to play on next season) later in the year, and so will we.
“We’ll have that discussion with him, but we can see when he’s not in the team how important he is to us.”
Jacob Hopper is set to return from a hamstring injury to bolster the Tigers’ midfield against Carlton, while Yze expects premiership stars Tom Lynch and Dion Prestia to play important roles in the run home despite their latest setbacks.
Lynch sustained another hamstring injury in his first game back from an extended lay-off and is expected to miss the next two weeks.
Prestia will miss the Blues clash with a calf issue but could return against Fremantle next week.