Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin is upbeat as Luke Jackson, the game’s best young talent, considers his AFL future beyond this season.

Few 20-year-olds have made a bigger impression after 32 games in AFL history, especially given Jackson is a ruckman.

Tall players usually take a while to develop, but Jackson won the Rising Star award last year and had a defining role in Melbourne’s stunning grand final comeback.

With Jackson out of contract at the end of this season, speculation is rife about what the Western Australia clubs will offer to lure the Fremantle native back home.

But if Goodwin is concerned, he hid it well during Tuesday’s media conference. “He’s a cracking a person and obviously a super talent,” Goodwin said. “We’ve had some really good discussions with Luke about his contract and his position at our club.

“One thing I know about Luke is he loves his teammates and he loves his footy club. We’re really comfortable where it sits with him. He’ll get paid what he deserves over time, like any player does in our industry.”

Goodwin also doubts the attention will bother Jackson. “If you know Luke, you know the personalty he is – he’s a pretty laid-back sort of character and he doesn’t think too deeply about that,” he said.

“He’s still very raw, he has a lot to learn, and he’s building an unbelievable chemistry with Max Gawn in terms of their ruck craft together – that’s what has really excited Max and Luke.”

Meanwhile, Goodwin said premiership defenders Jake Lever (foot), Michael Hibberd (calf) and Christian Salem (knee) would remain sidelined for Friday night’s game against winless Essendon.

Dusty needs time to heal – Hardwick

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the Tigers will give a grieving Dustin Martin all the time he needs away from the AFL club.

Martin has been on personal leave from Richmond since last week and sat out the Tigers’ win over GWS on Sunday.

Hardwick wouldn’t be drawn on reports Martin is considering his AFL future, instead stressing the importance of allowing the 30-year-old to heal in his own time, after his father Shane died in December.

He said Martin had also dealt with the difficult process of returning to football from the lacerated kidney that ended his 2021 season.

Dustin Martin (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

“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.

“His father was incredibly close to him, obviously from a parent point of view, but he was also his best mate. So it was going to take some time and we’re just prepared to give him that. He’ll take the time he needs to figure out what he needs. There’s no set date.”

Three-time Norm Smith Medallist and 2017 Brownlow Medallist Martin has been an irrepressible figure on-field throughout Richmond’s dominant years, and for many of his 261 games.

But Hardwick said the Tigers were missing Martin’s personality and energy around Punt Road more than his on-field presence.

“He’s such an important fabric of our footy club. We miss him, there’s no doubt – not on the footy field but just in the club,” Hardwick said.

“He is just an exuberant person, enthusiastic and every time there’s a game being played, I think of the word game and I straight away think of Dustin.

“Whether it’s a game of cricket, basketball in the gym or anything like that, he just brings about a sense of energy that is irreplaceable. So we just miss him from that point of view.”

McDonald’s off the menu

Carlton’s Oscar McDonald suffered a back spasm during Thursday night’s win over the Western Bulldogs and club officials will use this week to allow the injury to settle.

He has been ruled out of the Round 3 clash with Hawthorn before being reassessed next week.

Jack Martin and Adam Cerra are out of the health and safety protocols to be available for selection, Sam Philp faces a fitness test on his rib injury, Jack Carroll (knee) is likely to be out until next week while Liam Stocker will make a return from an ankle problem in the VFL on Sunday.

Bombers contemplate hard tag on Petracca

Essendon will contemplate taking a hard-tag approach to Melbourne superstar Christian Petracca as they attempt to avoid a 0-3 start to the AFL season.

The Bombers were blown out of the water by Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield and Brisbane’s Lachie Neale in successive weeks, with coach Ben Rutten backing his midfielders to go head-to-head with other on-ball brigades.

Norm Smith Medallist Petracca has been in ominous form, averaging 39 disposals, 7.5 clearances, 825 metres gained and 10.5 score involvements per game.

“It’s a question that we’re going to be having some discussion on. We’re wanting to evolve that part of our game and hopefully we can find a good solution,” Rutten told Fox Footy.

“You can’t nullify them (completely). It’s easy to say you can put someone on them and that all of a sudden they get 10 possessions but it’s not the case

“They’re quality players and they’re able to manipulate. What we’re seeing and I think what we’re enjoying about Melbourne at the moment is their selflessness. 

“If Petracca’s getting sat on or not having a great day, he’ll work for (Clayton) Oliver and make sure he has a good day. That’s what we’re seeing out of them (like) Richmond of the past five years. 

“These are the things to continually weigh up.”

Rutten defended the decision not to put a hard tag on Neale, saying Essendon had needed to be aggressive to try to win the game.

Friday’s match against the unbeaten premiers shapes as a daunting task, especially with Zach Merrett sidelined for up to two months with a syndesmosis injury.