“Zero to one per cent chance”: Why Cotchin can’t see Tigers great Martin playing for Gold Coast

Richmond premiership captain Trent Cotchin cannot see Dustin Martin pulling on a Gold Coast jumper in 2025.

The Tigers great is believed to be pondering a sensational backflip on his recent retirement by reportedly seeking a move to the Suns to play under Damien Hardwick next year.

But Cotchin, who has been close to ‘Dusty’ for more than a decade, has given the move very little chance of coming to fruition.

“I think there is a zero to one per cent chance that he pulls on a Suns guernsey, or any other guernsey for that matter,” Cotchin said on Channel 7’s Talking Footy.

“But, in saying that, you can understand why the likes of a Gold Coast and ‘Dimma’ (Hardwick) are teasing the idea of maybe it eventuating.

“I don’t know why, and maybe you guys have different opinions on whether it does help their footy club, but they’re not in finals, they’re in the paper every single day and it builds awareness of their footy club.”

Cotchin insists he would love to see Martin remain a one-club player after playing 302 games in yellow and black and achieving almost everything in the game as an individual and from a team perspective.

“There’s probably a part of me that hopes it doesn’t happen because of the love that I have and I think it would be nice for him to end up being a one-club player of the Richmond footy club,” he added.

“But footy is a bloody tough game. Maybe that’s the fresh start that he needs, but to move away to a new environment where they’re building and it’s going to look a lot different to what the latter stages of his career looked like at the Tigers.

“It’s a big call.”

Tim Watson then asked: “He didn’t look like he had his head in it this season.

“I don’t know whether he can find that enthusiasm for the game and the love of the game and all the competitive things you need.

“Have you spoken to him at all about this?”

Cotchin replied: “Yeah, not directly about what’s going on.

“He was actually up on the Gold Coast last time I spoke to him.

“He does love it up there, but that’s not to say that he wants to play his footy up there.”

Martin announced his retirement in early August, but rumours of a sensational Suns switch have been circling since.

Another former teammate, Tom Lynch, told Triple M not long after the retirement announcement that he doesn’t believe Martin will play on for another club.

“I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to Gold Coast, I was certain of that,” said Lynch at the time.

“I knew that he would finish up at Richmond when he let us know that (he was retiring).”