Four-time premiership player and former Demons player Jordan Lewis says Christian Petracca should have saved his post-game frustrations for “behind closed doors” last Friday night.
Petracca was visibly agitated after the final siren of Melbourne’s 39-point loss to Geelong — consigning it to a 0-4 record — with the vision glaring enough for reporters to quiz coach Simon Goodwin for his thoughts afterwards.
The 29-year-old was one of the Dees’ best at GMHBA Stadium, recording 21 disposals at 81 per cent efficiency, two goals, five score involvements and was one of the game’s highest-rated players.
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Speaking on Fox Footy’s On the Couch, Lewis sympathised with Petracca’s bitterness but was against the idea of expressing openly in the fashion he did.
“I feel for him. He’s clearly an emotional person. Now, would I do that, or would I want one of my teammates to do that? No,” Lewis said on Monday night.
“Behind closed doors you can be emotional and have really constructive conversations, but — and maybe it’s old school — never show that type of emotion on the field.
“Because I think at end you’ve got him, who’s clearly disappointed, it means a lot to him, he’s a competitor, he likes to win. And then you’ve got Clayton Oliver — who is also competitive — effectively joking with opposition players at the end of the game. So, they’re miles apart in terms of (type of emotion).”
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Brisbane legend Jonathan Brown and triple-premiership forward Jack Riewoldt said they’d have preferred a frustrated Petracca to a relatively nonplussed Oliver, but Lewis maintained his preference for it to happen in private.
“I think we know he cares,” Lewis continued. “I don’t know, I just think (he should) have those conversations and let those emotions boil over behind closed doors.
“And I don’t know whether that’s right or wrong, (but) that’s just what I expected of my teammates … you just never wanted to show weakness or emotion.”
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said: “I think it’s great to see that a player cares, and emotions are going to spill over. If it doesn’t matter to you, well then, that’s a real concern.”
Asked if he preferred the reactions of Petracca or Oliver in a losing situation, Buckley said: “I’d prefer actions. Actions in the game, and to get it done there. In the end, the Melbourne players need to own their situation.”
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Riewoldt, meanwhile, believed the onus fell on club captain Max Gawn to reiterate to Petracca that such emotions had to be channelled in a different setting.
“I’m looking at Max Gawn here,” he said on Fox Footy.
“I think Gawn’s got to say ‘Christian, yes, we love it (that you care), but we need you to turn that into change’.”
Buckley said: “His actions (on the field) were positive. He emptied out. He was upset that they didn’t get the results.
“That’s where you’ve got to come back to if his emotions had a negative impact on what he did during the game … or a negative impact on his teammates — that’s when you need to challenge it.
“After the game, that’s just an outpouring of emotion, and to be honest, it’s had no consequence.
“It’s just a very public display of disappointment. But he performed really well, compared to his cohort, so he can’t be disappointed with that.”
Petracca, who is under contract at Melbourne until the end of the 2029 season, will continue to be subject to trade rumours as long as frustrations bubble, and as long as his Demons remain winless in 2025.
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