Christian Petracca hit with pointed message from Leigh Matthews amid dramas at Melbourne

AFL legend Leigh Matthews has warned Christian Petracca not to make any rash decision on his future after suggesting recent events could cloud his judgement. Reports have emerged in recent weeks that Petracca has become so disillusioned with the club that he'd rather play elsewhere in 2025 if he could get a trade.

The problem is Petracca has another five years to run on a lucrative deal at the Demons and the club has made it abundantly clear they have no intention of letting him leave. It's understood Petracca's frustrations have stemmed from the horrific season-ending injuries he suffered in an AFL game against Collingwood earlier this season and a miscommunication between the club and teammates after he was afforded time off with his fiancee Bella to deal with his mental health.

Petracca has been struggling mentally and physically since he suffered broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and punctured lung in the incident against Collingwood. With his season done, Petracca was granted several weeks of leave and was pictured in Noosa with his fiancee Bella to try and get his head right.

But as Nine's Tom Morris reported, some teammates felt Petracca was being "selfish" by not being around the club, and veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson said it was "staggering" players weren't kept in the loop as to why he needed so much time away. Petracca addressed his teammates last week to explain the situation after Jake Lever confirmed many of Melbourne's players weren't aware of the extent of Petracca's struggles.

The premiership-winning star was scheduled to do a TV interview before Melbourne's clash with Collingwood on Friday night but Steven May filled in and spoke about his teammate's mental health struggles. Demons coach Simon Goodwin was also asked about Petracca after the game and refused to confirm whether the 28-year-old has given him guarantees that he wants to stay at the club.

However, Goodwin confirmed that he would catch up with Petracca for a chat in the coming days but reaffirmed the notion that the club wants him to stay long-term. "He's got a five-year contract, so he'll be seeing it out," Goodwin said. "We'll catch up in the next few days and have those discussions. But where we sit today, he will be at the Melbourne footy club for the next five years. They're the facts, and that's what will happen."

Leigh Matthews issues warning for Christian Petracca

Addressing Petracca's future on Nine's Footy Furnace, AFL legend Matthews noted that the Demons superstar is in a "delicate" state both mentally and physically at the moment, and warned him not to make such an important decision on his future until he was in a better space. "This is not a time I wouldn't have thought, if I was advising Christian, to be making big decisions about your life because this is a very traumatic period you're going through," Matthews said.

Goodwin was also bullish about the communication around Petracca at the club after suggestions the trip to Noosa with his fiancee caused friction with teammates, before it was properly explained to them what he was going through. The Demons coach admitted it took a face-to-face meeting between Petracca and his teammates for them to fully understand his situation.

"Communication has been really strong, internally, around Christian," Goodwin said. "It's been expressed to the players and the staff what Christian was going through and his need to get away from the footy club on numerous occasions. It was also spoken at length within leadership groups and we were there to support Christian. But ultimately, until you hear it from Christian, and that's been the difference, everyone gets a deeper level understanding."

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The Demons' season started with doubts surrounding Clayton Oliver's future and have ended with clouds aroud Petracca after Melbourne missed out on the finals for the first time since 2020. Goodwin said it "hurt" to not be playing finals after winning the 2021 premiership, then bowing out in straight sets in 2022 and 2023.

"We want to be a team that's playing finals every year," he said. In saying that, after some long years we get a chance to take a really good break and reset our club and our team, and we'll head into next year with a lot of optimism. For all the challenges that we've had throughout the season, we've still unearthed a lot of young players we think will take us forward as a footy club."

with AAP