Speculation is growing that former Richmond star Dustin Martin may be heading towards a career as a commentator after announcing his retirement from the game earlier this year.
The Herald Sun has published a photo of the 33-year-old and his manager meeting with Foxtel boss Patrick Delany and Fox Sports managing director Steve Crawley, while former teammate and Fox Footy presenter Jack Riewoldt was also there.
It’s sparked talk that he could be the latest former player to join the network for next season.
3AW Drive presenter Jacqui Felgate was stunned by the photo, given Martin was notorious throughout his career for not giving interviews to the media.
“The bloke has said about 30 words in his entire career,” she said.
“I would absolutely listen…I would because I have never heard him, he’s spoken like twice.
“He spoke to Jack Riewoldt when he retired and he was actually quite good. I think he’s essentially a shy person and doesn’t like to speak publicly.”
On his daily SEN Show, Andy Maher floated the possibility that the meeting could just be over a documentary or a special segment on the channel, but says fans would understandably be surprised by these reports.
“If Dusty has been sitting on this communication talents throughout his magnificent career and for whatever reason hasn’t wanted to share it with us, then this will be the biggest coup of all time,” Maher said.
“How surprised would you be if Dusty turned out to be an outstanding analyst?”
“He might have an idea for another type of show, (telling Fox) ‘I have been watching football coverage and this is what I think you could add, would you be prepared to consider it?’.”
Fans were equally caught off guard by the potential career change on social media.
It was earlier reported the premiership star was set to come out of retirement to join his former coach Damien Hardwick at the Gold Coast Suns, but has since brushed off those claims – telling the media at the Tigers’ .
Martin made it to rare territory, the 300th club at his beloved Tigers – just the seventh in the club’s history – stamping his name as one of the all-time greats of the game.
Fox Footy has gone through some recent changes with Mark Robinson being axed from AFL360 as well as Tom Hawkins and Shaun Burgoyne joining the channel for the 2025 season.
(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, controversial Bombers legend James Hird is returning to the AFL as part of a massive overhaul of the media landscape with a role on Nine’s Sunday night program Footy Furnace. Hird is replacing Leigh Matthews and will line up alongside Nine’s chief AFL reporter Tom Morris and former Geelong star Jimmy Bartel.
The 51-year-old former Brownlow Medallist and Bombers coach is also set to appear on Nine’s midweek Footy Classified.
He has barely had any involvement with the sport following his well-documented reign as Bombers coach from 2010-15.
Hird was banned from the 2014 season due to the club’s peptides scandal before his return the following year ended with him resigning before the season was out.
He was an assistant coach at GWS in 2022 on the staff of former teammate Mark McVeigh and applied for the vacant Bombers head coach role at the end of that year but was overlooked.
“I missed the game,” Hird told The Age. “The game is a great game, but certainly I have not missed the publicity. The time feels right.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
“The scrutiny is on every player and every coach the whole time. It’s the biggest thing in town, and it is good to be back and part of it.”
Nine has revamped its coverage after Seven poached outspoken former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes, veteran journalist Caroline Wilson and businessman Craig Hutchison to head up their coverage.
Seven has also added ex-St Kilda star Nick Riewoldt to its line-up.
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