Note 2 of the last 3 premiers have not included big name forwards, they can be won without them. It's midfield (always has been) where the quality is needed, then a strong backline.

Note despite the personnel, our midfield has been getting beaten by the top sides for a couple of years now.

 

Any potential trade can only be done on a "to good to refuse offer" i.e Reid and a first round; as the club also needs to make a stance on honouring contracts - otherwise this will happen year after year; to the extent of other clubs actively targeting our contracted players.

I may as well have my 2 bobs worth.....

To lose Christian Petracca will be devastating to the club but also to us supporters who love the way he plays.  He is a champion of the club.

I tend to agree with earlier comments from Dazzle that refer to the psychological impact and long term effects that such significant injuries bring about and the likelihood that he will never fully recover.  IF his mindset is such that he believes for mental health reasons he needs to disassociate himself from the MFC and that in doing so, that will facilitate his recovery, he leaves with my blessing and gratitude that I was able to see such a wonderful footballer don the red and blue and bring a flag to us long suffering supporters.

However, if it transpires that it is due to his desire to be a "hall of famer" and he has left us to fulfill his personal goals, that sheds a different light on the situation and how he will be viewed by MFC fans in the future.

When confronted with a challenge, the committed heart will search for a solution.  The undecided heart searches for an escape.  Your call Christian.

 

Seeing Collingwood supporters on Twitter suggest a straight swap for DeGoey which would be like swapping a brand new pair of Jordan 1's for a pair of slippers from KMart.

We don’t know the full story but maybe Christian is also part of the supposed culture problem at the club?

4 hours ago, DiscoStu17 said:

The club is always bigger than the player. I think I said that last week as well.

If the rumours are to be believed and a ‘big’ vic club is the preferred destination, it could only mean filth or blues, as surely no one is queueing up for Ess or Tiges?

Blues have a couple of players. Maybe Curnow? Surely not McKay?

Can’t see many players of interest in black-and-white. Most are are too old. Maybe Ed Allan? Could add in Maynard who would mysteriously disappear in a freak training accident?

You made me smile.

7 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

You can’t explain it, can you. So you resort to the old I don’t have to explain anything to you thing.

Now Dazzledavey will applaud your post, coz Dazzledavey. Strangest bedfellows ever. 

Seriously, are you 13?

8 hours ago, The Third Eye said:

Didn’t see any Geelong premiership players trying to do a runner when they missed the finals last year.

They were probably sitting on their $1 farm wondering what to do.

8 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Forgot what journo said it tonight (Sam Edmund), but they said that Connors sports are very big on keeping this kind of stuff in house and are always adamant not to publicly request trade unless certain clubs can do the deals.

It was something along those lines.

Maybe there is some legs to what @Davos said.

There was a post about how Trac asked would a trade be possible and his manager (Robbie DOrazio?) said forget it. Guess his people decided the nuclear path had to be implemented?

Trac should have said he wanted to play for Carlton or Collingwood for family reasons. 

11 minutes ago, Old Time Demon said:

I may as well have my 2 bobs worth.....

To lose Christian Petracca will be devastating to the club but also to us supporters who love the way he plays.  He is a champion of the club.

I tend to agree with earlier comments from Dazzle that refer to the psychological impact and long term effects that such significant injuries bring about and the likelihood that he will never fully recover.  IF his mindset is such that he believes for mental health reasons he needs to disassociate himself from the MFC and that in doing so, that will facilitate his recovery, he leaves with my blessing and gratitude that I was able to see such a wonderful footballer don the red and blue and bring a flag to us long suffering supporters.

However, if it transpires that it is due to his desire to be a "hall of famer" and he has left us to fulfill his personal goals, that sheds a different light on the situation and how he will be viewed by MFC fans in the future.

When confronted with a challenge, the committed heart will search for a solution.  The undecided heart searches for an escape.  Your call Christian.

 

Lyon sum it up well … Trac has a big contract and should suck it up and be part of the solution and act as a leader to work with his premiership team mates not look to jump ship, the way he’s distanced himself an wearing a hoody over his head at the game on Friday night  and allegations of his brand growing elsewhere not confirmed .. in 21 they were selfless… I think selfish has now come in by many including him!

40 minutes ago, DirtyDees DDC said:

We should trade him to Freo...for Jackson.

THIS!!!!!

16 minutes ago, OhMyDees said:

We don’t know the full story but maybe Christian is also part of the supposed culture problem at the club?

Anything is possible at this injury prone club

5 minutes ago, OhMyDees said:

Trac should have said he wanted to play for Carlton or Collingwood for family reasons. 

Trac said he wanted to go to Collingwood because they kneed him very badly.

Reading the media (alert, it’s dangerous) 

I say NO NO NO to any trade.
 

Trac is actually coming across as selfish and a sook. Now seemingly bagging the club who he played in a premiership for.  Wants a “big club”.  Wants to play in front of “big crowds”.  Doesn’t want to go to Casey (ok, that’s fair).  Dees have a massive year  ahead.  

We all love ❤️ 💙Trac💙❤️

But if he doesn’t love us and it’s too too painful, then … we might just say thanks 🏆

I think we need to work out a trade. I don’t like keeping players against their will. Particularly when we have an unsettled group and lots of small fractures.

Whichever club takes him will have immediate salary cap pressures, so they will need to include a player. It will be a player, plus a first round and potentially a future first. 
We need to make it happen this draft. 
I for one, will not welcome him back post this.. this behaviour frustrates me. 

Luke Jackson and Harley Reid and we’re set. 
 

Seriously the trade needs to get us Harley Reid, then it might work. 

13 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Be interesting to time up the travel time from Tracc’s place in an inner south east suburb to Carlton 4 days a week (35-60 minutes), vs to Gosch’s 2 days (15-25 mins) and Casey 2 days (45-1hr).

Net result would be negligible. 

 

Easier commute directly from training to making weird Colgate ads!

51 minutes ago, BDA said:

The club have said no trade (and a fair trade is highly unlikely anyways). It’s the only stance that makes sense.

Trac’s leaking is torching us and the club. I don’t think it’s very smart to leave himself without a pathway back to the fold. He is being very badly advised. The long-term contract means the club holds the upper hand. I’m sure I would agree with him about a lot of the issues at the club but the way he’s gone about it demonstrates clearly a very selfish streak. He wants out and doesn’t care about damaging the club to achieve this.

He has a lot of back pedalling to do. It’s going to be interesting to see how he goes about that. I’m not even sure its tenable given how he has trashed the club.

Very interesting times.

Sorry how do you know trac is leaking info? and what info is he leaking?

8 hours ago, John Demonic said:

I've long suspected that Picket Fence is Mathew Jefferson

Um not so, I am an out and out Looney! I believe Jeffo very sensible and stable!

5 minutes ago, Tracca said:

Sorry how do you know trac is leaking info? and what info is he leaking?

@Colm instead of face palming, maybe answer the question? This isnt an episode of days of our lives. 

Edited August 26, 2024Aug 26 by Tracca

4 minutes ago, Tracca said:

Sorry how do you know trac is leaking info? and what info is he leaking?

Well, what do you think?

Someone is clearly leaking stuff to the media. It's either him or the club.

Who benefits more from this noise? Ask yourself that question, you'll find the answer.

Essendon is a big Melb. Club.

Merret and Caddy should do it.

2 hours ago, Nairobi_Demon said:

Exactly. The Club needs to credibly signal that they are prepared to hold him to his contract and not trade him if they want leverage with Petracca and an alternative club. One way to do this is for senior leaders to make bold public statements that could make them look foolish after a trade, like being certain that he will play in the red and blue in 2025 (Goodwin, Pert, Lyon, etc).  It’s a credible signal because it’s costly - it’s a statement that comes with some reputation damage if it turns out wrong.

Conversely, Petracca and his management seem to want to make the relationship seem so bad and irreparable  such that the club decides it’s better to accept a weak trade rather than have him around the club.

In this regard, other MFC players stating the relationship is bad is unhelpful for the club.  Better other players don’t say anything or, alternatively, say something along the lines that “look he’s gone through a lot, but we’ll get around him if he stays”. That may be hard to say in the current context but the fact that it’s hard to say makes it credible and would bolster the club’s position. 

For what’s it’s worth, I think the players would get around him if he were to stay. Too many good memories, players would understand he’s been through a lot, and they may also have some sympathy with some of his criticisms and concerns about the club’s performance. I also really question whether this is the right moment in his recovery to make such a big decision. 
 

The challenge I see with Petracca’s strategy is what it signals to any interested club — on the one hand it credibly signals his ambition and drive, but also that this personal ambition is bigger than the team/club. I’m sure that would make other clubs pause.  And thus if he pushes too hard on the “irreconcilable narrative” and continues to leak internal club issues to credibly signal this fallout (issues I’m sure all clubs have and don’t like aired), it will get to the point where other clubs will see risk not only opportunity in a trade. Conversely he could risk future captaincy and other status symbols should he push too far down this path but still end up at the Dees.

Anyway, will be interesting to see where this lands.  Personally, I hope he stays because of the high performance standards he brings.

Nup not now, quickly becoming yesterdays hero, Trade out!

My tip.

This will all blow over and there will be a big redemption, reconciliation patch up job by tracc's team.

Why?

Well, whilst i don't doubt tracc wants our, it appears he's wedged himself.

(I say appeared because whilst there's obviously been some strategic backgrounding to journos, the only info we've got thus far is from peanuts like Morris and McClure - note this a classic move of politcians and player managers alike as it gets the desired message out, sets the narrative but also provides a get out, we never said such stuff, option).

By wedged i mean the suggestion is he wants out, but only to a 'big Victorian club' in the Premiership window.

Realistically that is the pies, blues and a very long stretch the bombers (noting their home ground is marvel).

To get to one of those clubs a mighty good deal would need to be done - one that satisfies us.

What leverage does tracc have?

Well, some might argue his leverage is the dees having a player on the list who wants to be elsewhere and who might be bad for the vibe at the club

Big f deal for one thing. 

But that's basically a threat - one we have clearly signalled (goody's post match presser being the best example) we are not going to be bowed by.

A key point is if things are so bad, and he really, really wants out then suck it up and go to the Tigers, or West coast, or the suns. Or wherever.

Or not, and honour his contract.

1 minute ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Well, what do you think?

Someone is clearly leaking stuff to the media. It's either him or the club.

Who benefits more from this noise? Ask yourself that question, you'll find the answer.

There's a touch of Confucius here ElDiablo. I like it. 'Never give a sword to a man who can't dance'