- Moderator
- #1,226
I would feel a little more for Petracca if he wasnt seemingly keen to only go to the two biggest clubs in the AFL. He signed the contract, you can ask/force your way out but if he's genuinely trying to go to Collingwood and/or Carlton you lose a bit of credibility.
Since he signed the contract, he's had Oliver implode on the bags and all the shit that causes internally (like what happened at West Coast, and Gold Coast with the playing group split between party boys and professionals) the Club (at least externally) running nothing but static, while sliding down the ladder and not improving the list, and then getting medically ****ed over and sent out to play with no spleen.
He's got grounds.
He hasn't covered himself in glory with the 'big club and brand' stuff, but he's 29 next year. He's only got a few years left to maximize his earnings (both current, and future). There are commercial realities here, and in a few years time, he's going to have a singular talent (footballer), that cant earn him a penny so I don't really begrudge him for having at least some commercial angle to it as well (looking after his future).
See also: Judd and Visy.
I know it's an emotional game and 'playing for the jumper' and all that, but that ship largely sailed a long time ago, and objectively speaking, its fair enough and we should be adults about it.