Kangaroos great David King believes Melbourne should part ways with Christian Petracca to “sell him at his highest point”, but says it would be a disastrous reflection of the club’s mismanagement of the superstar. Petracca’s future at the Demons is becoming increasingly uncertain following a report from The Age that . It comes amid talk of relationship fractures with his Melbourne teammates, with some indication it’s reached a point of no return for Petracca return to the club.
Petracca is contracted at the Dees until 2029 on a seven-year deal signed back in 2021, while senior club figures have emphatically ruled out the possibility of a trade so far. But King thinks it could be in the best interests of all parties to go their separate ways, arguing no single figure is ever bigger than a club. “I just think you’ll have the opportunity to sell him at his highest point.
And what you’ll get back in the door will outweigh Christian leaving,” King told “Christian has been a Hall of Fame player for Melbourne and absolute top liner of our competition, but he’s clearly unhappy. “He’s been unhealthy and there’s a long process back to footy. Are Melbourne still in the window to win another one? I have my doubts.
“With the Tasmanian team coming in you’ve got to get ahead of any form of reset. I just think they could scoop the pool in terms of what other clubs — in particular Carlton — could offer. “He’ll be 29 before next season starts, is clearly disgruntled and concerned more with personal brand than getting things back on track, so maybe it is time for all parties to shake hands and move on.
” Supporting King’s argument is how the likes of Hawthorn, Geelong and GWS lost their own big-name superstars in Lance Franklin, Gary Ablett Jr and Jeremy Cameron respectively and were largely unaffected. Petracca’s situation is arguably more complicated than any of the above though given he’s contracted for five more seasons and coming off a serious injury. Plus, clubs not being able to trade picks two years in advance yet limits the assets they can give out.
One list boss spoken to by on the condition of animosity can’t see any club meeting Melbourne’s demands in a deal, making a trade extremely difficult. Indications are that Petracca would be keen to join a big Victorian club to play in front of bigger crowds, which narrows the field of suitors. Carlton and Collingwood are naturally seen as contenders including links to a swap with Harry McKay despite the star forward’s manager, David Trotter, shutting down such a possibility.
And after speaking to a high-placed source at Collingwood, understands it can be all but ruled out in the potential race for Petracca, even if he has interest in the club he grew up supporting. Not only do the Magpies not have the draft assets to strike a deal — they’re without their first-round pick and only hold selections 32, 48 and 50 in this draft as well as whatever they get back for Suns-bound John Noble. But Collingwood is also not in a position to accommodate Petracca’s $1 million plus salary into its books.
It’s understood the Pies are unlikely to explore other ways to go all in for Petracca and are prioritising bringing in a key defensive reinforcement following Nathan Murphy’s medical retirement earlier this year including talk of a homecoming for Crow Mark Keane. That leaves Carlton as the leading contender in the race, but there’s many complications to getting a deal done. The Blues hold Pick 11 and 31 and could also dangle a future first-round pick plus players.
Both McKay and Charlie Curnow, who are thought to be players of interest for Melbourne, reportedly don’t want to leave Ikon Park and can’t be traded unless they agree to it. Of course, players can still be talked into a trade — think Brodie Grundy, Adam Treloar, Ryan Burton and Josh Kennedy of recent times. “If clubs want to steer a player one way, they can massage things to get deals done and all of a sudden the dominoes fall pretty quickly,” King said.
“But this is more Christian Petracca’s problem than Harry McKay’s. Petracca’s management team have to satisfy Melbourne on the way out or he isn’t going anywhere.” A list manager spoken to by thinks even if the Blues offered McKay and their first-round pick, it wouldn’t be enough to appease the Demons and that Carlton might need to include another player.
Melbourne has already loaded up with young talent in recent years including using two first-round picks last year on (Caleb Windsor, Pick 7) and Koltyn Tholstrup (Pick 13) to add to its nucleus of Jacob van Rooyen, Judd McVee, Jake Bowey, Daniel Turner, Kysaiah Pickett and Trent Rivers. While McKay should be considered an untouchable, if the Blues were to ever consider the nuclear option of moving him, it should only be for a player of Petracca’s ilk — a bona fide top five player in the competition when fully fit. “Only Michael Voss and those internal at Carlton knows how it might look without McKay and would have a better answer.
They would’ve seen it at training, practised different things, had a look at the forward line with him and without him. Does it work for Curnow? Does it help TDK (Tom De Koning) get more opportunity ruck-forward?,” King added. “They’ve got a surplus of talls, so there’s an advantage they could use in a trade sense.
“They’d have to make sure Petracca in, McKay out actually gives them a considerable uplift. If it was one-for-one, Carlton in theory is miles in front all things being equal. “Petracca in full health and full flight is one of the best players in the competition, McKay is not at that level.
“But will Christian get back to that level when he’s healthy? Jury’s out, this is a slow, long rehab process. But you’re going to get a hungry player and a player who wants to prove a point at a new club with a new opportunity.” There’s frankly no other really obvious options for Petracca.
Essendon and Richmond round out the traditional ‘big four’ Victorian clubs, but neither necessarily makes sense. The Bombers could offer Pick 8, their future first rounder and potentially one of their young players, but would Petracca really want to leave Melbourne for a club that’s been stuck in AFL purgatory for two decades? Similarly, Richmond has bottomed out and look set for several years of pain before it climbs back up the ladder. The Tigers could have as many as five or six first-round picks pending how many of their players depart this trade period, so in theory could have the assets to make it happen, plus Tom Lynch is reportedly a player of interest for the Dees.
Hawthorn is the other club to watch, but already has its hands full this trade period. The Hawks are heavily favoured to land West Coast gun defender Tom Barrass, which would almost certainly take away their first round pick, and have been linked to free agents Josh Battle and Harry Perryman. Therefore, you’d think one or more of those deals, namely the Barrass move, would have to fall through for Hawthorn to be a serious player in the Petracca sweepstakes.
Mitch Lewis could be a target for Melbourne, but would Hawthorn be prepared to extradite players and risk blowing up such a great culture that’s been cultivated under Sam Mitchell? You could never count out Geelong, and its consistently in big games and big finals. However its first pick — No. 16 — would likely be part of a deal for out-of-contract Western Bulldogs gun Bailey Smith.
Speaking of the Dogs, they might be an appealing option for Petracca but don’t necessarily fit the bill of ‘big Victorian club’. While they technically don’t have a first rounder right now, the Dogs are expected to get Geelong’s Pick 16 and have Ryley Sanders and Jordan Croft currently plying their trade in the VFL as highly-rated youngsters with currency. Then there’s North Melbourne and St Kilda, who’ve long struggled to land big fish and aren’t exactly destination clubs right now for a player wanting to play in front of huge crowds.
“You sit back and it’s a sellers market. You say: ‘Christian, we’re happy to facilitate the move if that’s what you really want. But we want the best deal we can get’,” King said.
“He wants to go to a big, powerful club with a massive fan base, but those clubs don’t absolutely have the right picks to get that done right now. If someone really wants him, they’ll get him. “Or it doesn’t work out.
And they say to him: ‘Unless we get like-for-like, you’re going nowhere,’ — and that’s the beauty of the long-term contract. “Then he has to work out how he handles a re-emergence back into the club and approaching people that have their nose up right now because of the way this has unfolded. “Melbourne is not giving this guy up for nothing.
They understand what this would mean and what this would do. “The flow-on effect to the management of this footy club, all warts in terms of the way this situation has been handled will be exposed if Christian leaves. That could be a disaster for the guys who have mismanaged Christian in the last six months.
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