Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says Dustin Martin will be given all the time he needs and the club are not setting a date for his return to action.
The Tigers are priced at 4/5 to finish in the top eight of the AFL this season and having Martin back in the side will be key to their chances of success.
Tough times for Martin
Martin has been hit hard by a tough six months. First of all he suffered a lacerated kidney and has been attempting to battle back to fitness.
But much worse he then suffered the loss of his father who passed away in December. Martin is understandably struggling to come to terms with the loss and has been placed on personal leave.
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There has even been talk that Martin is considering his AFL future but Hardwick did not shed any light on such talk.
Instead he just reaffirmed that the gun midfielder has the full support of the club and will be given all the time he needs to get himself into a position where he is ready to play again.
Time to heal
"Dustin's taking his time to figure out what he needs to move forward and as we've spoken about, he's had a really tough six months, none tougher than what he's had to deal with, first with the injury then with the loss of his father," Hardwick told Fox Footy's AFL 360.
"He just needs the time to heal. Grief is a thing that it's really like an injury. There's no two ways about it. You have to get some some treatment to make yourself heal and he's just taking the time to do that.”
