‘Gone rogue’: Christian Petracca slammed over ‘farcical’ trade saga

Christian Petracca publicly decided his AFL future over the weekend, but the entire ugly saga has been torn to shreds.

Christian Petracca brought the drama around his future to an end on Saturday night, but the footy world has taken aim at the “farcical” scenes around the rumours.

The Demons superstar has been at the centre of trade rumours after reported discontent after his season was ended with life-threatening injuries from the King’s Birthday clash against Collingwood.

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The 28-year-old was left with four broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and a small puncture in a lung, which required emergency surgery to stop the bleeding and were likened to a car crash.

He was reportedly unhappy with the amount of care from his teammates and the club after the injuries and reportedly mental struggles in the aftermath.

It led to weeks of speculation over Petracca’s future with suggestions he wanted to go to a big Victorian club to help “brand Petracca”, as the Demons continued to try and deflate the speculation.

In 2021, Petracca signed a monster seven-year extension worth a reported $900,000 per season until the end of 2029, which tied his hands somewhat if he did want an exit, but there was talk of a way that he could force his way out if he desperately wanted to.

However, Petracca broke his silence on Saturday, releasing a statement via the Demons’ website.

“Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of speculation regarding my role at the Melbourne Football Club,” Petracca said in the statement.

“This has occurred as part of the end-of-year review process, in which I voiced my concerns as a leader, wanting better for our club, playing group, and fans.

“During this time, I have been in open communication with the player leadership group and club leaders to ensure we can work together to improve as a club.

“I make no apologies for wanting to better our club and contribute to our success both on and off the field.

“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.”

Petracca’s statement was music to Demons fans’ ears. Pic: Michael Klein

However, speaking on Channel 9’s The Sunday Footy Show, journalist Damian Barrett labelled the entire situation “completely farcical”.

“There’s been ego, there’s been delusion, there’s been ridiculous media management, there’s been spin,” Barrett said.

He took aim at the fact the club labelled the Petracca statement an “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 said.

Host Tony Jones clapped, adding sarcastically: “Well done Melbourne media department, that’s fantastic.”

Barrett also hit out at the comment from Petracca: “I remain committed to playing for the red and blue.”

“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.”

Barrett labelled the situation a “circus”, adding that “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,” Barrett continued.

“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.”

Damian Barrett has slammed Petracca and the Demons. Photo: Channel 9

Nathan Brown asked whether Barrett was saying that the only reason Petracca was staying is “because there were no takers?”

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

Barrett acknowledged the trauma Petracca had suffered since the King’s Birthday hit, but suggested there had been “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 questioned whether it would be the catalyst for the club to sort out some issues that have plagued the club.

But Cornes also questioned Petracca’s management.

“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, unless you’ve got a club saying ‘we’ve got pick such and such, we’ve got the salary cap room, we’ve got a future first round pick, we can get this done’,” Cornes said.

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

But Barrett responded, saying he believed Petracca had “gone rogue” and was driven by the 28-year-old and the people around him rather than his management.

“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.”

Christian Petracca is staying put. Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Barrett also suggested that the problems he has with the Demons football club “are real” but that “they were obvious to Christian before the injury on King’s Birthday”.

The tide had somewhat turned on Petracca before his statement on Saturday as well.

Ex-Melbourne great David Schwarz labelled Petracca “un-Australian” for the “brand Petracca” aspect of the story.

“This is different, and I understand there’s trauma involved. But I’m getting a real sense that this is about Christian Petracca and his brand,” Schwarz said.

“Then there’ll be other things brought into it, whether it’s personalities or a lack of empathy when he was going through his recovery, all those sorts of things.

“But this brand stuff, really, it’s new, it’s different, is it un-Australian? In a way, it is, because the one thing that I think we’ve always spoken about is loyalty and loyalty both ways.

“The club have got to pay him whatever it is a week, let’s say it’s $20,000 a week, so they’re loyal to that deal of the contract. But if a player gets a little bit upset they get up and go.

“I was thinking about it last night, and I was thinking that one of his best mates is Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons was all about his brand in the early days, and his brand has been severely tarnished by some of the decisions that he’s made.

“I just can see Christian going down that path and I don’t think it’s great for him, I don’t think it’s great for the club and I don’t think it’s great for the game.”

Originally published as ‘Gone rogue’: Christian Petracca slammed over ‘farcical’ trade saga