Regardless of his performance last night, he will always look better in a red and blue jumper.

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Pretty sure it was Fox Footy that had a stated that eead that it was either his 3rd or 4th best ever rated performance of his career.

The praise was absolutely deserved. Looked a completely different player.

It was actually the best rated performance of his career, which is crazy to think about and a credit to him

People can think what they want about him and how he left the club, but it was clear he was going to get back to his best in a strong side like GC

Still think we made the right decision to move him on given XT and Trelly could be 10+ year players for us, but it ultimately was a sad way to part with an MFC great still playing elite footy

27 minutes ago, demoncat said:

It was actually the best rated performance of his career, which is crazy to think about and a credit to him

People can think what they want about him and how he left the club, but it was clear he was going to get back to his best in a strong side like GC

Still think we made the right decision to move him on given XT and Trelly could be 10+ year players for us, but it ultimately was a sad way to part with an MFC great still playing elite footy

Just to confirm “He requested a trade we didn’t move him on” we accommodated as Kingy wanted the noise gone, Severely disappointing in both club & player as it’s a selfish decision a selfless would be to be part of the solution. will always be a Demon Premiership Norm Smith, hope he’s grateful and comes back for the 10 year premiership reunion.

3 hours ago, Watson11 said:

That is total bs. He was our best player by far until the injury in mid 24. His average player rating from 2020 to 2024 was almost flat at 16. No evidence he checked out.

You silly person! I was referring to Dazzle's chart!

Of course he will get back to his best in a strong side like that, tha team is like the VIC origin team. He just needs to win, if he’s not winning he’s sooking and causing bad vibes. It’s not about his team it’s about him and he’s going to be happy and giving it 110% because he’s in a crazy good team which must be heaps of fun and very motivating but it highlights how incredibly selfish and self centred he is.

Nothing we didn’t already know I suspect. Amazing player, shame he couldn’t put his own needs aside and be just as great for us, his actual team, when we needed him most.

3 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Don't get me wrong we appreciate all that he accomplished in red and blue the premiership, the norm smith i was one of the luck ones to be at the GF in Perth.

I was even in footage with my arm around CP5 in the aftermath of the GF celebrations but the way it all came to an end was very bitter.

The subtle little noises about playing for a bigger club and that our fans aren't very noisy, my instagram numbers could be doubled if i played at a Carlton, Collingwood or Hawthorn if i played there.

This has left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

I wonder what his Sooshi Mango mates think about his defection from the MFC seeing as though they are supporters of the club?

But once it came apparent that we were no longer in a position to contend he was on the look out for a new club.

Make no mistake about it GC was not his 1st choice, if a Hawthorn, Carlton or Collingwood had the draft hand he would be in one of those club's colours.

Team Petracca were making power moves in the shadows to orchestrate an out of the MFC in the weeks following his injury.

In season 2024 and 2025 years we didn't hear a positive peep from camp Petracca.

They were waiting for an out moment to eventuated and when it arose they took full advantage.

This may not be popular but what i saw last night was 💩 ing on the faces of the MFC faithful.

34 touches , 3 goals, 3 brownlow votes.

Thanks for the memories CP5.

If we have any ounce of sack when we play GC in R6 at the G that we go after him physically and verbally.

Rant over!

This is exactly how I feel.

I haven’t read the last few pages of the thread, so maybe someone has already said this…

Last night Petracca’s disposal and selflessness hit new highs. His kicks inside 50 were way better than they were for us. And he always looked for someone in a better position.

It looks like instead of thinking he’s the best in the team and trying to do it all himself, he realises he has to do the team thing. Too bad he didn’t feel that way last year.

2 minutes ago, Fanatique Demon said:

I haven’t read the last few pages of the thread, so maybe someone has already said this…

Last night Petracca’s disposal and selflessness hit new highs. His kicks inside 50 were way better than they were for us. And he always looked for someone in a better position.

It looks like instead of thinking he’s the best in the team and trying to do it all himself, he realises he has to do the team thing. Too bad he didn’t feel that way last year.

Maybe that has something to do with his new Coach.

8 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Maybe that has something to do with his new Coach.

Could be. Or maybe he realises he has to prove himself all over again. Either way it was a great performance.

Measure him after the Suns play a big final at the G against a legitimate opponent. The intensity of yesterday's game was exactly where has has excelled through his career.

There have been lots of problems at the MFC over the last few years, but as everyone surely knows by now, winning cures all. We lost is 2023 (and probably to a lesser extent in 2022) because our big guns, Petracca included, failed to execute on the big stage when it mattered most. Unlike Hawthorn and Richmond before us, when it got tight and the big games needed to be won our big guns, led by this guy, failed. If they'd had been good enough to get us over the line in those games, the entire last 4 years look very different.

Hugely appreciate that he managed to execute so well in 2021. Extremely glad none of those games game down to the wire where ability to be clean and execute under pressure decided the games. Also glad none of those games were played in the pressure-cooker that is the G in September. No-one can take it away from us and I'll take it any way it came, but regarding Petracca his execution under absolute heat nowhere near matches the level of adoration he gets from the AFL circle [censored]. I'm confident he'll fall short when it matters if they cop a Vic team in a big final at the G in Sep.

12 hours ago, Redleg said:

Maybe that has something to do with his new Coach.

I take your point but King also is a new coach.

21 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Gabriel Marcel is a legend. I'd almost give him my no.5 jumper.

Yeah but he hasn't won a Norm Smith medal

17 hours ago, biggestred said:

This is exactly how I feel.

Me as well

1 hour ago, Go Ds said:

I take your point but King also is a new coach.

But King hasn’t coached him over the pre season.

I always had questions about his maturity. Something that sat uncomfortably with me, even during the good times. Next time you get a chance, watch some of the interviews he gave over the years and count how many times he says "I" or "me." In a team sport, that tells you something.

When we were winning, he was brilliant and he knew it. But when our form dropped and we needed someone of his calibre to stand up and lead, he sooked, his body language was dreadful, and he demanded out rather than honouring a contract. So looking back, you have to wonder whether the Melbourne Football Club was ever really the point. Whether our success was simply the stage his ego needed? The good years gave him plenty of accolades and highlight reels and a profile that grew with every big game. We were the vehicle. And when the vehicle stopped performing, when the wins dried up and the spotlight dimmed, there was nothing left to keep him here. No loyalty to the jumper. No commitment to help rebuild what we had together. Just a man looking for his next audience.

Edited March 7Mar 7 by Swooper Northey

34 minutes ago, Redleg said:

But King hasn’t coached him over the pre season.

So you can guarantee no other coach that has not coached Petracca could have instilled selflessness into him over summer, other than Hardwick e?

1 hour ago, Swooper Northey said:

I always had questions about his maturity. Something that sat uncomfortably with me, even during the good times. Next time you get a chance, watch some of the interviews he gave over the years and count how many times he says "I" or "me." In a team sport, that tells you something.

When we were winning, he was brilliant and he knew it. But when our form dropped and we needed someone of his calibre to stand up and lead, he sooked, his body language was dreadful, and he demanded out rather than honouring a contract. So looking back, you have to wonder whether the Melbourne Football Club was ever really the point. Whether our success was simply the stage his ego needed? The good years gave him plenty of accolades and highlight reels and a profile that grew with every big game. We were the vehicle. And when the vehicle stopped performing, when the wins dried up and the spotlight dimmed, there was nothing left to keep him here. No loyalty to the jumper. No commitment to help rebuild what we had together. Just a man looking for his next audience.

There are plenty of players like that. He got good value from us and us from him. No one owes anyone anything.

Good luck to him

We move on

So do we blame Darcy Moore for this? If trac didn't cop that injury would he still be with us? I mean we wouldn't have gone through all this scrutiny & trac wouldn't have gone through all that trauma.

But then maybe we still wouldn't have focused on improving his kicking.

6 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

So do we blame Darcy Moore for this? If trac didn't cop that injury would he still be with us? I mean we wouldn't have gone through all this scrutiny & trac wouldn't have gone through all that trauma.

But then maybe we still wouldn't have focused on improving his kicking.

Yeah, but we were a bomb-it-long team (territory team) so Goodwin's ability to get the team to change tack just wasn't bought into (that's according to the eye test)

We did it for a few games but from an overall perspective, we wasted a lot of hard-earned possessions

A different voice for Petracca (Hardwick & co. and his new teammates) and hey presto, it's all about hitting targets

Whether King has the ability to re-educate our players away from the long kicking game remains to be seen - but it's more a senior players issue with the Demons

Our W/L record this season will largely depend on whether we can share the ball (at speed) and not turn the ball over. And corridor use is paramount as well

High risk football = long bombs & boundary hugging football. Do that and we'll be lucky to win 6 games

22 hours ago, demoncat said:

It was actually the best rated performance of his career, which is crazy to think about and a credit to him

People can think what they want about him and how he left the club, but it was clear he was going to get back to his best in a strong side like GC

Still think we made the right decision to move him on given XT and Trelly could be 10+ year players for us, but it ultimately was a sad way to part with an MFC great still playing elite footy

I saw numbers that had it his 5th best rated game ever. On Ch 7 I think

The 21 GF game was his 3rd best.

And apparently Round 1 of 2022 was his best by a long way.

God luck to Trac but I can't wait to watch the new young line-up next Sunday live.

22 hours ago, demoncat said:

It was actually the best rated performance of his career, which is crazy to think about and a credit to him

People can think what they want about him and how he left the club, but it was clear he was going to get back to his best in a strong side like GC

Still think we made the right decision to move him on given XT and Trelly could be 10+ year players for us, but it ultimately was a sad way to part with an MFC great still playing elite footy

7 minutes ago, demon36 said:

I saw numbers that had it his 5th best rated game ever. On Ch 7 I think

The 21 GF game was his 3rd best.

And apparently Round 1 of 2022 was his best by a long way.

God luck to Trac but I can't wait to watch the new young line-up next Sunday live.

and the GF and Rd 1 2022 games had almost identical stats.

No way was yesterday his highest rated outing.

Makes a good headline though.

2 hours ago, Go Ds said:

So you can guarantee no other coach that has not coached Petracca could have instilled selflessness into him over summer, other than Hardwick e?

All I said is that maybe his new Coach had some influence on his performance.

Not sure why we are discussing guarantees that no other Coach could have improved him except Hardwick. How would anyone know that?

14 minutes ago, Redleg said:

All I said is that maybe his new Coach had some influence on his performance.

Not sure why we are discussing guarantees that no other Coach could have improved him except Hardwick. How would anyone know that?

Sorry. I wasnt going at you. I wasn't even going at Hardwick e. I'm just sure some players start at a new club and even if the coach were Mark Neeld , with the move they've been spurred on to be a better player.

I am glad for Tracc that he watched the ball onto his foot and didnt drop it from too high. I dont know if he can keep this up but it improves his game 50%. He is excellent at getting the ball but he hit targets the other night.

Edited March 8Mar 8 by Damo

Have we had a tom Morris style leak since trac left?