Mending fences: How failed Tom Papley trade will serve as a template for Petracca’s return to Dees
After a dramatic couple of weeks, Christian Petracca is headed back to the Dees. But how will he reintegrate himself back into the club? JON RALPH writes, there’s a formula to follow.
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Melbourne star Christian Petracca will use the aborted trade of Sydney star Tom Papley as an template for mending fences and integrating back into his club after a fortnight of trade turmoil.
Petracca on Saturday made clear his future was at the Demons for 2025 despite attempting to broker a trade with a rival club in recent weeks.
While Melbourne had been keen for him to provide clarity on his future for some time, it is understood the timing and contents of the statement were driven by Petracca and not the club.
While there are five weeks until the start of the trade period Melbourne across the weekend was adamant this was not a holding statement to buy time.
They believe Petracca will not make a late request to depart, aware a trade is impossible and having now turned his mind to how to improve the club’s standing.
Petracca has been able to make clear to the club his key issues – including their management of his King’s Birthday accident and his belief they didn’t support him adequately in recovery
Petracca also has issues regarding the club’s culture given multiple off-field incidents and is concerned about its recent lack of success.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn admitted on All Australian night that while he disagreed with some of Petracca’s concerns he also shared others that the club was working to address.
Petracca, 28, has known all along that his chances of securing a trade were unlikely given his massive salary to 2029 and the difficulty in involving premiership contenders like Carlton or Collingwood.
So his fallback position has always been to return, confident that like Papley when the Swans knocked his trade in 2019 that any frostiness with teammates would be short-lived.
While those close to Petracca are aware he can be highly emotional, he shares the same fun-loving and endearing disposition as Papley that will mean he can find a way to move on over summer.
Melbourne is adamant Kysaiah Pickett’s continuing homesickness issues will be worked through with the club’s indigenous welfare manager Matt Whelan.
While he might have ideas about a move to WA given friendships with Perth-based players, Melbourne is emphatic he isn’t on the move.
With Port Adelaide defender Dan Houston making clear he too had now ruled out a trade back to Victoria the Demons will go hunting the trade market with huge capital to offer rival clubs.
The Demons have pick five, their future first-round pick and their 2024 second-round pick that they could get back from Adelaide for the departing Alex Neal Bullen.
Neal-Bullen will return home for family reasons and the current No. 25 pick handed to Adelaide for Shane McAdam last year seems a likely starting point in trade discussions.
Melbourne has made clear it wants to add experience given the loss of Angus Brayshaw and Neal-Bullen and in a quality draft their No. 5 selection will have huge appeal to clubs.
Rivals will believe they can get one of the top handful of midfielders in the 2024 draft crop of even one of the key talls in key back Luke Trainor or key forward Harry Armstrong.
The Demons future first-rounder might also appeal to clubs who might back the Demons to have another mediocre season next year.
Melbourne has no current plans for an external review, with president Kate Roffey’s position seen as safe within the club as they try to find stability over the off-season after so much turmoil.
It is understood Roffey has several more years left on her presidential term and has no intention of stepping away despite a train wreck interview on Melbourne radio.
Roffey would have been well aware of the tenor of the questioning and presumably had rehearsed her answers after dodging publicity for weeks but bumbled through the interview.
In Melbourne’s defence, Petracca had said in an interview midway through the year he had been well supported while in hospital by Melbourne from the top down.
And in an AFL 360 interview as he broke his silence after his spleen and rib injury he said only his family and partner Bella were initially aware of the severity of his injury while he was in ICU and then in isolation.
So while the Demons will never be able to placate him over whether he was well enough supported, they can attempt to assuage his concerns about how they improve their culture going forward.
Securing quality replacements for Neal-Bullen and Brayshaw will not guarantee success but will help placate him about bouncing back strongly from a season without finals participation.
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Originally published as Mending fences: How failed Tom Papley trade will serve as a template for Petracca’s return to Dees
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