FOR A footballer who has cultivated a huge off-field presence in an obsession with clicks, image, company endorsements and profile, Christian Petracca has been strangely silent the past 10 days as his football life has become immersed in noise.
The self-imposed silence is hurting him. And he won't like hearing this. It is damaging the very thing he values as much as his football career – Brand Petracca.
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Until Petracca speaks publicly and explains why he wants out of the Melbourne Football Club, he will continue to erode that profile. He has already annoyed some teammates to the point where they no longer care if he stays or goes, a damning situation for someone who in 2021 single-handedly turned a Grand Final Melbourne's way, and who in the same year pledged a contractual allegiance to the Demons until the end of 2029.
Petracca has issues with Melbourne's operations, and the handling of his horrific injury on King's Birthday as well as perceived welfare failures after that day are at the forefront of his desire to exit.
No one has downplayed the severe mental and physical stress associated with that damage to his body, and the medical procedures required to keep him alive in the days after. But where Petracca has crossed his line in the eyes of those who were once his allies is that, ultimately, they don't want to be further bothered with an attitude they now deem as selfish, and at times bordering on childish.
The Demons are far from blameless in this situation, for the off-field behaviour of some of Petracca's teammates has been out of control at times, even before the 2021 premiership. The ridiculous, constant and unconvincing denials of club officials of a flawed culture has made some issues far worse. But until Petracca was injured this year, he had been prepared to work with the wider problems in club operations.
That he wants to not just leave the Demons but go to a big Melbourne club is a sign of the selfishness of which some have tired. Brand Petracca doesn't want to play for any club, just one of the very big ones. And as any person with even basic knowledge of football trading would attest, the only way for a big-name player to land at a new club is for that club to trade back an equally talented footballer.
Which is why I feel for Carlton's Harry McKay the past 48 hours. From being a very happy Carlton player and going about some heavy rehab work in an attempt to be fit for the Blues' elimination final, he was thrust into an unwanted spotlight after being identified as the potential leverage point for Petracca's passage to Princes Park.
And as for Brand Petracca's ideal-world hopes of landing at Collingwood, the Magpies have zero trade currency.
Besides, they already have on their books a footballer with a far bigger brand. It's called Brand Daicos, although that brand has come to Nick Daicos mainly through football, not a need to tell people about it.
Of the remaining five years of Petracca's contract with Melbourne, his annual wage will peak at $1.7 million a year, and not fall below $1.2 million a year. He has deserved that deal, for his career has taken in four All-Australians, two best-and-fairests, a Norm Smith medal and a premiership.
Given the valid doubts attached to his recovery, a rival club committing to those terms would require steely resolve and a leap into the unknown.
And that's before that rival club wanted to delve into why Petracca has deeply angered his current teammates.
When Brand Petracca signed his contract extension in 2021, the Demons published a four-and-a-half minute interview with him, where he spoke of a love for the club as well as making a heartfelt reference to former captain Nathan Jones.
"… even someone like Jonesy who, even he said he could've probably left when the times were tough, but for him to stay and stick it out, to be a one-club player is pretty special," Petracca said on that day.
Petracca's desire to be a one-club player lasted just three seasons more. Can't wait to hear why.
