MELBOURNE coach Steven King joined SEN this morning to outline the club’s stance during the trade period, expressing his desire to work with Christian Petracca, as the midfielder takes time to weigh up his future.
“I’ve spoken to Christian on the phone,” King told 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 four years 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.”
King outlined the role Petracca would play in his plans for the Demons moving forward.
“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 said.
“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.”
“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."
On Steven May
King also spoke on two-time All-Australian defender Steven May.
“I haven’t had a chance to sit down with Steven yet, that was more a list management decision,” King said.
“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.”
On Judd McVee
The coach also confirmed that Judd McVee is considering a move back to Western Australia.
“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.”
