AFL TV shows recap: Christian Petracca, Melbourne, Carlton under fire

Christian Petracca, Melbourne, and Carlton dominated discussion across the silver screen on Monday night. Josh Barnes watched Monday night’s footy TV shows so you don’t have to – catch the recap.

If you haven’t heard, Melbourne and Carlton are battling, and Christian Petracca had some emotions after a loss on the weekend.

If you haven’t heard, we heard all about it on the footy shows on Monday night.

In case you don’t want to go back, here are the talking points, the news and the moments you missed from another bumper night on the TV.

AFL 360

As usual, 360 leant hard into its point of difference by having two coaches on, including the relevant Matthew Nicks.

Nicks tried to block them out like Rahul Dravid but Gerard Whateley almost breached his defence when asking about the Crows being robbed by the umpires against the Suns.

“My job is to coach the footy team, not the umpires,” Nicks said.

“We haven’t talked about it in the footy department.”

Only moments later Nicks corrected Whateley by confirming Adelaide had been on the short end of the stick a few times, but he wasn’t going to talk about it.

Justin Longmuir was on the other Zoom screen and revealed Luke Jackson would miss Sunday’s game against Richmond and that Sean Darcy could play.

Both coaches said they accepted it was a reality that other clubs could meet with out-of-contract stars like Oscar Allen, and no wonder given Fremantle and Adelaide have combined to lure players like Izak Rankine, Jackson, Jordan Dawson and Shai Bolton away from other clubs in recent years.

Earlier the show started on under-fire coaches Simon Goodwin, Michael Voss and Ken Hinkley copped the dreaded 360 montage treatment – always a sure-fire sign you are in trouble when the best montagers in footy put you in their sights.

ON THE COUCH

The analytic maestros on the couch had Melbourne and Carlton in their cross hairs to start off with.

Former Melbourne teammate Jordan Lewis weighed in on Christian Petracca’s emotional outburst on the siren against Geelong: “would I want one of my teammates doing that? No … never show that kind of emotion on the field.”

Christian Petracca walks from the field

As usual, the vision was spot on as Lewis talked through why Melbourne may have taken some steps forward but ultimately fell short against Geelong.

Lewis dropped the stats bomb when he revealed the Dees had one player in the top 100 highest rated kicks in the league, with Harrison Petty the lone red and blue man at No. 96. Yikes.

Next was Carlton and the infamous second half fade-outs Michael Voss is overseeing.

Some weak efforts from Blues players such as Sam Docherty and Zac Williams copped it from the couch.

As this masthead revealed in a deep dive on the Saints and their recruiting, those at St Kilda have worked hard to become an appealing spot for star targets and Lewis has declared their recent form has them as a “destination club”.

Jonathan Brown didn’t quite nail the nickname of “seducing Saints”.

Sadly no Leigh Matthews this week but he will be back.

AGENDA SETTERS

Over on Channel 7, it was also Carlton at the top of the agenda, but not on-field matters at first.

Caroline Wilson led off with word that former AFL Commissioner and Carlton captain Mike Fitzpatrick was sounded out to replace Luke Sayers as president this year but it didn’t happen as Rob Preistley was elevated to the gig.

The big wide desk then dived into Carlton’s second half wobbles and again, Docherty, Williams and Mitch McGovern were put in the gun.

No surprise, Melbourne was next and Petracca’s siren outburst.

A bunch of Dees were in the spotlight, like young forward Jacob van Rooyen, who Nick Riewoldt said would become the next Sam Weideman, who played 76 games for the Dees and Bombers across nine seasons.

Kane: "Do you think he (Petracca) will be there this time next year?"

Caro: "It doesn't look great does it? No." pic.twitter.com/JLEmIc75dS

— 7AFL (@7AFL) April 7, 2025

“The way his career is tracking at the moment, he is going to be Sam Weideman all over again. We can hope he is going to be this great key forward and it is just not going to happen,” the St Kilda champ said.

After praise for St Kilda’s good run of form, Wilson revealed club legends like Barry Breen, Allan Jeans and the Trevor Barker and their families will be paid back for money they left on the table in the 1970s and 1980s as the club fought for survival.

“The sacrifice the players made in the period is significant,” former Saints captain and champion Riewoldt said.

Following another Power loss, the question was raised once more about the succession plan at Port Adelaide and whether Hinkley should be moved on early.

The non-Caro’s Arrow, now Caro’s Call on the new network, was directed at Chris Scott for his honest answer about Allen’s discussion with Sam Mitchell being a modern part of football.

FOOTY CLASSIFIEDS

And then we turn to ‘Footy Class’.

As this masthead reported on Monday afternoon, the panel talked through Noah Balta still being available for selection this weekend, as Richmond has not extended his club-imposed suspension following a guilty plea to assault charges.

Former GWS board member Jimmy Bartel said he would not have considered Balta for selection until after his court case is over, with the swingman due to face sentencing on April 22.

Melbourne and Carlton’s much discussed woes were next up.

Goalkicking great Matthew Lloyd advocated for Bayley Fritsch to be dropped and the Petracca vision was looked over in depth again.

Should Bayley Fritsch be dropped for the Dees? Picture: Michael Klein

Bartel came with a bullet point list of ways the Demons can fix themselves up, starting from the board level to fixturing to a Max Gawn skipper succession.

The Blues problems followed and how much Carlton missed Harry McKay, who has been given time to return to senior football when he is ready.

Shaking things up from the other shows, North Melbourne’s big loss to Sydney was bumped up the order on ‘Footy Class’ and Lloyd pondered whether the Roos had sung their song with too much spirit after an earlier win.

Like the Agenda show, in the second segment, the desk questioned whether it was already time to give Josh Carr the keys at Port Adelaide and shift Hinkley off.

To finish off our big night of TV, Channel 9 reporter Tom Morris received a big drive-by in the ‘Closing Cook’ and we turned the set off and headed to bed.

Originally published as AFL TV shows recap: Christian Petracca, Melbourne, Carlton under fire