Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has labelled trade talk surrounding Christian Petracca as “mischievous”.
On the weekend, Collingwood great Tony Shaw suggested that “it makes real sense” for the Magpies to make Petracca their primary target.
Petracca himself responded to the reported Collingwood link and now Goodwn has had his say on the matter.
“Christian’s been part of building this footy club for six years now,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“He handled it very well. It’s a bit mischievous to be commenting on a player that is still in contract for a couple of years.
“There are a lot of players out there in the competition that a lot of clubs would love. I’m sure Christian is one of those guys.
“He’s a Melbourne person, he loves the club, he loves his teammates. One thing I am seeing with our group of core players is they’ve got this bond with each other and they want to build some success together, and Christian is one of those guys.
“I’m sure he’ll be at Melbourne for a long time to come.”
Petracca, 25, is contracted with the Demons until the end of 2022.