THE PLAYING future of Carlton's Brendan Fevola has been brought into question on Saturday, with coach Brett Ratten challenging his star forward to make up his mind whether he wants to stay at the club, and Fevola himself declaring his intentions to remain a Blue.
Fevola has reportedly rejected a three-year contract offer from the Blues, with his long-running negotiations with the club muddied by speculation he is being courted by the Sydney Swans.
Ratten said there would come a point when Carlton simply had to state their terms and say take it or leave it.
"If you don't want to play at the Carlton Football Club and you want to chase some money, a bit of extra money and that, then the Carlton Football Club isn't the place for you, that's my view," Ratten told Melbourne's SEN radio network on Saturday.
"I think the Carlton footy club's a great place to be around and there's great people and I love the place personally, it's been great to me.
"If you don't want to play there and you want to chase the bucks, that's up to you."
Asked if that was a direct message to Fevola, Ratten said: "That's a message to everyone across the board."
"We're at a point with contracts, we need to make a firm stand (and say) 'this is how much we can afford, this is how much we think you're worth,' any player, not just Brendan but any player.
"If you don't want to accept it, well, so be it and we'll have to move on and find someone else."
Fevola reportedly later rang Triple M radio in Melbourne and declared his desire to remain at the club.
Ratten's ultimatum came after Fevola had a horror game in the Blues' loss to St Kilda at the MCG on Friday night.
While he finished with three goals, he was soundly beaten by Max Hudghton and gave away an off-the-ball free kick and 50m penalty early in the second quarter which helped the Saints take the lead for the first time.
"It was a real deflation for the team ... it really did swing the momentum St Kilda's way and I just said it's not good enough," Ratten said of his message to Fevola after that incident.
Ratten also indicated he was not pleased to see the forward hugging Saints players directly after the match, although he said "everyone's different" in their reactions and Fevola had good friends among the St Kilda team.
"I'd rather maybe he have a chat to them during the week or a couple hours after the game, maybe not sit there hugging blokes from the opposition," Ratten said.
But he noted Fevola was far from the only Carlton player to have an off night, pointing out key defender Jarrad Waite's struggles against St Kilda forward Nick Riewoldt.
