Cornes slams Dusty-Richmond “circus” - is Adem Yze too soft on his players?

Kane Cornes has called out Dustin Martin and Richmond, wondering whether the club has gone soft on the veteran superstar.

Martin has flown to New Zealand for family reasons this week, not giving himself ideal time to recover from a back niggle that has held him out of the side for three weeks now.

Cornes labelled the situation a “circus”, questioning Martin’s investment in the side.

“What are they doing with Dustin Martin? How are they allowing this circus to go on and not speak openly and honestly about where he sits, whether he’ll ever play again for Richmond?” he told SEN Breakfast.

“What does the future hold? Is he motivated to play? Why is he in New Zealand mid-week visiting family? Is there a reason for him to do that?

“Why isn’t he at the club? Why isn’t he trying to prove his fitness and play? There’s so many questions. I could go on and on and on.

“Why are Richmond treating him as softly as what they are, and do we need more information about it?”

David King agrees, wondering why Martin isn’t doing everything he can to work his way back from the back niggle holding him out of the side.

“It’s the tail wagging the dog,” King said.

“I understand he’s a Hall of Famer. I understand he’s done so much for the footy club, but you just can’t separate him like this at the end. You’ve go to hold every player accountable from one to the next.

“It’s a fascination and Adem Yze spoke yesterday about his back still being a little bit grumbly, but he’s on planes.”

Cornes called out Richmond coach Yze for not having a firmer grasp on the situation.

“(Martin’s) playing golf and he’s on planes,” Cornes said.

“At some point, Yze is going to have to have a hard edge. You can’t be dictated to by your players. You can’t be best friends with your players and you can’t please everyone.

“The best coaches have a hard edge and at the moment I think he’s being too soft on Dustin.

“The further discussion to this is – is it the right thing for Gold Coast to recruit Dustin Martin next year? I would say a firm no if this is what’s going to go on at Gold Coast what’s gone on at Richmond this year.”

The Tigers travel to South Australia to take on Port Adelaide this weekend.