Melbourne coach sets the record straight on Petracca

Melbourne coach Steven King says the club remains steadfast in its desire to keep Christian Petracca.

Petracca, contracted until 2029, has been seen in both Adelaide and the Gold Coast this week to meet with both the Crows and Suns as he weighs up his future in red and blue.

But King insists the four-time All-Australian and two-time best and fairest is a required player at the Demons.

However, if 29-year-old does desperately want to leave, any potential trade would have to greatly benefit the Dees.

“I’ve spoken to Christian on the phone,” King said on SEN Breakfast.

“As a coach I’d love the opportunity to work with Christian and coach him.

“I fully understand the landscape we’re in. I respect Christian’s decisions now to explore his options but he has got fours left on a contract.

“So it would have to be an amazing deal for our footy club for him to move. If things don’t work out for Christian, it’s a fresh start with me and Paul (Guerra) as CEO.

“I’ve got his back around walking back into the club and playing great footy, and I’ll back him in.”

Has King pitched his case to Petracca about what it looks like at the Demons next year and beyond?

“I’ve let him know the environment I want to create here at this footy club and more importantly the style and brand of footy we want to play,” King added.

“Christian would be central to that. He’s still runner-up in our best and fairest and we all know the player Christian is. He’d be pivotal to those plans I’ve got.

“I respect his time and space, I’ll give him that, but he’d be a central part of what we’re doing moving forward.”

The new Demons coach says Petracca is well aware the club wants him to stay, but King respects the fact he is going about his business in exploring other options.

He does admits, however, that talks between player and club commenced while King was still in his role as assistant coach at Geelong.

“Those discussions might have happened in Grand Final week, so I wasn’t actually privy to any of those meetings,” he said further.

“I was more following up from this week onwards. I touched base last week.

“Ultimately we’ll do what’s best for our footy club. We want Christian to be a part of that, no doubt.

“But as I said before, if Christian chooses to leave it has to be on our terms. It has to be fantastic for our footy club.”

King, who has replaced premiership coach Simon Goodwin in the Melbourne hot seat, also touched on veteran defender Steven May.

The 33-year-old has been told by the club to explore his options despite having a year to run on his current deal.

“I haven’t had a chance to sit down with Steven yet, that was more a list management decision,” King said of the two-time All-Australian.

“I respect what he has done for this club, and we have had open and honest dialogue around what the future might look like for Steven, and maybe for him to explore options elsewhere to extend his career.

“He is obviously contracted at Melbourne, and if he was to come back, he has every right to earn his spot like everyone else. But we have a lot of young defenders that are chomping at the bit to get some exposure and we’re really keen to give that to them as well.”

Another player who might not be in Demons colours next season is Judd McVee who King admits is eager to return to his home state of Western Australia.

“I’ve spoken to Judd and he has frustrations about how he thought he was pigeon-holed as a player,” King said of the 22-year-old.

“With his athleticism and skillset I wanted him to be a contributor in the back half and really bounce the ball out of there . We had a coffee, I thought it went really well, but ultimately Judd wants to return home to WA and I respect that decision.

“That is something our list management team will work through.”

McVee is keen to join Fremantle this trade period.

Listen to the full chat with King below: