Christian Petracca had cemented himself as one of the AFL’s most talented stars during his time with Melbourne.
The number-two selection in the 2014 national draft spent 11 years with the club and helped lead them back to their first Premiership in 57 years in 2021.
Despite that victory four years ago, the Demons have had back-to-back disappointing seasons, finishing 14th in 2025.
This season, Melbourne have been one of the surprise packages under rookie coach Steven King.
With four wins on the board, including scalps of Premiership favourites Brisbane and Gold Coast, fans have had plenty to cheer about.
The turnaround comes with a notable absentee – the aforementioned Petracca, who was traded to Gold Coast prior to the 2026 season.
Christian Petracca earned the nickname The Consultant due to a perceived lack of effort by his former Melbourne teammates
The former number two overall pick has since been traded to Gold Coast where he is back to his best
Melbourne have been a surprise package this season, picking up four wins so far under rookie coach Steven King
While it may be unfair to pin the turnaround completely on the departure of their former superstar, the nickname they adopted for him certainly speaks volumes.
During their dismal 2025 season, Petracca actually earned the alias ‘The Consultant’ due to his perceived lack of effort within the club.
Channel 7’s Caroline Wilson told The Agenda Setters: ‘The point I want to make about Melbourne is just going to focus for a minute on Christian Petracca.
‘Like, he wasn’t the only problem last year, but he was a bit of a misery guts around the football club. He didn’t want to be there.
‘He was professional. He turned up, he trained. But he didn’t give as much of himself as he had in the past.
‘And obviously, what happened in 2024 was terrible, and the club was very much to blame. And Christian didn’t behave perfectly afterwards, but I have huge sympathy.
‘What we have seen clearly is a couple that needed to break up because Melbourne is so much happier without Christian Petracca.
‘Christian Petracca is now one of the Brownlow Medal favourites, and they adore him at the Gold Coast. He’s now the happy player and happy citizen he once was.’
That 2024 injury occurred during a contest in a King’s Birthday loss to Collingwood, resulting in four broken ribs, a punctured lung and lacerated spleen.
Despite the severity of that injury it would be a few minutes before he left the field and in the months that followed there was a very public falling out between himself and the team.
