Richmond have no timeline on when they expect a decision by Dustin Martin on his future, with Tigers coach Adem Yze revealing he held talks with the veteran free agent earlier this year to place a focus on his career call until the end of this month at the very least.
External intrigue into, and speculation surrounding, Martin's playing future has again peaked this week after Melbourne great David Schwarz said categorically that the triple Norm Smith Medal winner will join the Gold Coast Suns on a multi-year contract.
The situation that sits between Richmond and their champion midfielder has been focused on making sure Martin is happy at Punt Road and that his attention is on playing at the highest level each week.
Yze did go to Martin earlier this season and flag discussions on his future can potentially be rekindled as early as this month as all parties prioritise their on-field prospects.
Yze, a close friend of and former teammate to Schwarz, said the recent rumours around Martin's future are "speculation", with no timeline set on a decision from the 300-gamer.
The Richmond coach did reveal the club and Martin are a chance to return to talks over the next month after pushing those discussions to the side.
"[Schwarz] is a good mate of mine. That's all speculation. All is know is [Dusty] is walking into the building today bubbly and is enjoying being here," Yze said of the Martin intrigue.
"I've said all along, he'll make those decisions in the coming weeks on what he's doing and what his future looks like. But right now he's thinking about getting out there to train and put his hand up for selection.
"Early in the year I kind of did try to push it and say let's look at the end of July or the start of August or whatever it is, just so that we can make those decisions and it's obviously getting close to that now. But we haven't got a timeline on it. We just want him happy and healthy while he's here. And he can make those decisions in due course.
"He's been in a really good space for the last six weeks I reckon. We had a discussion around that and said let's not think about it until later in the year and when you come in, let's come in with some energy.
"Same as the discussion I had with Liam Baker. It's too hard to carry that sort of weight when you're trying to work out what you're going to do and then still perform at a high level. So [Martin] is in that mode right now and he seems pretty happy."
Martin isn't alone in weighing up his future at Tigerland, with gun utility Liam Baker also coming off contract and in the sights of rivals.
The premiership Tiger has met with West Coast and is also said to be of interest to Fremantle, with both Western Australian clubs keen to lure the hard-nosed ball-winner back to his home state.
Much like Martin might with the Suns, should mutual interest in a move arise, discussions surrounding players meeting with rival clubs has been a hot topic after key figures at both Hawthorn and St Kilda held talks with their own player movement targets.
When questioned on the strategy, Yze said he sees no issue with off-contract Richmond players needing to settle their future come the back half of the home and away season.
"As an industry I think we've grown up a little bit," Yze said of players meeting with other clubs mid-season.
"We've got a couple of players (unsigned), Liam Baker is in that position right now. He's going to make a big decision on the rest of his career and we can't hold that against him.
"He's got to make a measured decision and we can't expect him to wait to the end of August to start thinking about or even meeting with other [clubs].
"I think as a whole we understand the landscape. With 'Bakes' and even some of our other players that are out of contract, we just hope that while they're here we're creating the environment that they want to be at and those things will start to unfold later in the year.
"I don't see any issue with our players making sure that they're ticking all the boxes and understanding if they are thinking about going that where they're going to is the place they want to be."
The Tigers also have premiership stalwarts Dion Prestia, Dylan Grimes, Jack Graham, Kamdyn McIntosh and Marlion Pickett unsigned beyond the 2024 season.