Fears players ‘running their own agenda’ as ex-Dee warns unhappy stars are ‘better off elsewhere’

Four-time premiership player and ex-Demon Jordan Lewis says there are players at Melbourne “running their own agenda” amid growing concerns about the club’s culture.

Lewis added that if disgruntled Demons superstar Christian Petracca is considering leaving, he is “better off elsewhere”.

It comes following reports Petracca is ‘disillusioned’ with the club, as well as Tuesday’s formal trade request made by contracted utility Alex Neal-Bullen.

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The four-time Hawthorn flag-winner was forthright about the public emergence of Melbourne’s in-house issues.

“I think good clubs and sides that have good cultures — this stuff happens behind closed doors, and it doesn’t necessarily make it to the public,” he told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Wednesday evening.

“It seems like there’s people and players in there that are running their own agenda, and in my opinion, that’s not the right way to go about it.”

Regarding Petracca’s frustrations, Lewis explained his stance.

“My opinion has always been if a player doesn’t want to be there, they’re better off elsewhere, because there’s nothing worse than a player requesting a trade — it doesn’t happen — and then coming back into an environment where all they are thinking about is when the next opportunity might be to get out,” he said on AFL 360.

“I just don’t think that sits well with clubs that want to be inclusive and get their … perform and be better. If a player has signalled that they want to leave, I’m always of the opinion if you can make that happen, it’s best for both club and player.”

Three-time Richmond premiership forward Jack Riewoldt said a heart-to-heart between Petracca and skipper Max Gawn had to happen.

“That’s a conversation that Max Gawn has to have with Christian Petracca, because he is a leader at that football club,” Riewoldt told Fox Footy. “They have to sit him down and say: ‘what’s the reality here?’

“And if he’s not a part of it, then, like Jordy’s saying — it’s still got to get what you need for him, if you want to trade him — but you’ve only got to look at … how they’ve handled the Neal-Bullen situation.

“He’s come out and said ‘I want to go’, (and the club has said) ‘all right, cool, no stress’.

“So, I’m sort of looking at it (thinking) if Trac doesn’t want to be there, let Max Gawn know, let them know, and Melbourne can move on.”

Riewoldt concluded by emphasising the importance of resolving any internal issues that bubble to the surface.

“It does highlight, though, that — when something happens at your organisation — you can’t internally sweep over it,” he said.

“You can’t just assume that someone’s going to feel a certain way about a certain thing. So, clearly, for Christian, there’s still some feeling about how he feels about the way it was handled after he got injured.

“They need to deal with that, and the best way to deal with that is straight away.”

Amid Petracca’s concerns and Neal-Bullen’s trade request, multiple reports have now suggested that Melbourne trade target Dan Houston is reconsidering his preference to be traded to the Demons this coming trade period, in part because of the uneasiness lingering over the club.