New details of ‘impossible’ Petracca move… and why trade could yet resurface

The door remains open for a Christian Petracca trade in 12 months’ time despite a move this off-season being ruled out as new details have come to light surrounding the saga.

Melbourne and Petracca confirmed over the weekend the superstar premiership player, who’s contracted until 2029, would remain a Demon next year.

It puts an end to overwhelming amounts of speculation in recent weeks the 28-year old would leave the club to join a big Victorian powerhouse including links to Carlton and Collingwood.

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AFL journalist Tom Morris provided new insights on how things played out behind the scenes in recent weeks, revealing opposition stars reached out to Petracca directly.

Ultimately, however, a trade would’ve simply been too hard to facilitate.

“If there was a way that Petracca could have got out, he would have explored it,” Morris revealed on SEN radio on Monday morning.

“He actually tried to find a way for several weeks and there was no avenue for him to. His management told him from the very start that it would be almost impossible to orchestrate.

“So Petracca’s view was: ‘We don’t know until we try’. Since the manager works with the player, Robbie D’Orazio did his best in an impossible market. That’s how it played out.

“Petracca had several players from rival clubs reach out to him directly two weeks ago after the news broke. He took the calls, telling one star opposition player that although he knew it would be hard to get out this year, it might be easier in 12 months’ time.

“So do not discount it in 12 months’ time. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but it’s still very much on the radar.”

Clubs next year will have the ability to trade draft picks two years in advance, while they’ll also have more time to potentially plan around landing Petracca.

Morris added that ‘Brand Petracca’ “is a thing” — with the gun player reportedly serious about maximising his personal brand at a bigger club to boost off-field earnings.

But that wasn’t specifically the reason he was considering leaving the Dees, according to Morris.

“Every great player has a brand, we know that, but him wanting to move from Melbourne to Collingwood wasn’t about his brand. It was about the club that he was at, it was about the Demons,” Morris continued.

“It was absolutely Melbourne’s perspective that ‘Brand Petracca’ was a reason for him wanting to go, that’s true, but I don’t believe it actually was a reason for him.

“Overall, Christian Petracca desperately wants culture change and success, I think that’s pretty clear.

“Leaders come around to many of his views as well. Max Gawn and him have had a number of very strong conversations.

“Petracca wasn’t going to sit by and watch another year go to waste. He was prepared to go, if not, then he’s prepared to enact serious change.

“I believe this will enact serious change as well off the field.”

Speaking on Channel 9’s The Sunday Footy Show, veteran journalist Damian Barrett believes the management from Petracca and the Demons camp over his concerns has been nothing short of nonsensical; notwithstanding Melbourne’s efforts to put an end to all conjecture.

“The whole episode with Petracca and Melbourne has just been completely farcical; there’s been ego, there’s been delusion, there’s been ridiculous media management, there’s been spin,” Barrett opened by saying.

“Have a look at this last night, and the use of the word exclusive. This is a footy club that hadn’t been able to communicate with Christian Petracca for weeks, where it festered to the point of almost no return, and then they’ve managed to track ‘Trac’ down – and declared it’s an exclusive on their own website.

Barrett went on to highlight a particular section in Melbourne’s written release on Petracca, before diving deep into discussion with panellists on the extremely public coverage of his falling out at Melbourne.

“I love my footy – it remains my number one priority and always has been. As for my future at the Melbourne Football Club, I remain committed to playing for the red and the blue.” – Melbourne FC

“It’s just extraordinary … (I) wouldn’t say ‘I remain committed’; you weren’t committed to playing for red and blue,” Barrett continued.

“You wanted to go to another club, you wanted to take ‘brand Petracca’ into a big club, and that was what you were saying – that’s what your teammates were saying.

“And this is the circus that unfolded in the past two or three weeks, as Christian himself chose to let this play out in a very, very public media sense. The realities of it are, there were five years remaining of a contract, and the delusional element of this whole saga was partially driven by Christian himself.

“He’s got wind of that in the past week that no deal could possibly be done for him on as much as $1.7 million at various stages of that deal that remains until the end of 2029.”

As discussed prior to Melbourne’s statement on his future, it became quite clear that the parameters for a trade were already incredibly thin, given the reported demands from both the Demons and Petracca’s desire to play for only one of few clubs.

It is important to note that amongst all conjecture, Petracca himself has not spoken on any of his public platforms to either endorse or discredit speculation surrounding his future.

Co-panellist Nathan Brown then posed the theory that Petracca is in fact only staying at the Demons as there were no legitimate takers that could satisfy all parties involved.

“The deal could not be done with what Melbourne was going to demand,” Barrett sustained.

“I fully acknowledge the trauma that Christian Petracca has been through physically and more so mentally, from the King’s Birthday hit from Darcy Moore – I get all that, and it’s a major part of where his thought processes are.

“But there’s been an immaturity, in my eyes, a significant immaturity attached to his dealings in the past two weeks at least, and maybe even a whole lot longer.”

Port Adelaide premiership player Kane Cornes chimed in to Barrett’s commentary, noting that there are multiple parties that must accept blame for the fallout.

“There’s a lot of ways you can take this discussion; you can then look at the club … has this been the catalyst for them finally acknowledging that they’ve got some issues when they’ve been so strong that they don’t?” Cornes questioned.

“You can also look at Christian’s management as well, because anyone you speak to in this space says you don’t use this action, or go this nuclear unless you know a deal can get done.

“That was never going to happen, so his advice that he’s been given in this, you’ve got to question that as well.”

Barrett was of the belief however that Petracca may have begun to look for a new club before discussions of a potential move took place with his management.

“My reading of this is this was all Christian driven, and people around Christian-driven before even got to the management,” Barrett stated.

“They are experienced; I’m not here to defend (them), I don’t care for how they present themselves, but history tells me, when they do go public, they do get their player out (so) I don’t believe they drove this.”

Both Cornes and Barrett labelled the situation as “rogue”, with reports of his off-field brand and hobbies also discussed further on in the dialogue.

“I think he’s gone rogue on the whole thing, and his teammates think he’s gone rogue to a certain point,” Barrett added.

“He’s not Travis Kelce, he’s not David Beckham, and he doesn’t have a right to go to a big club just because he wants out.”