Christian Petracca urged to fix body language after ‘damning' footage emerges during loss to Western Bulldogs

7NEWS

18 hours ago

Melbourne veterans Christian Petracca and Jake Melksham are in the gun for their poor body language during Sunday's loss to the Western Bulldogs.
The Demons, playing just five days after premiership coach Simon Goodwin was sacked, nearly pulled off an upset win over the heavily favoured Bulldogs, but fell six points short in a thriller.
While the effort and intensity was a huge improvement on previous weeks, there were also a series of incidents that reflected poorly on some of the leaders.
The Agenda Setters highlighted vision of Melksham giving young gun Harvey Langford a spray for missing a relatively easy pass before they zeroed in on two separate Petracca incidents.
First, the superstar midfielder reacted angrily to not receiving the ball from Langford before showing no positive reaction when Langford's long option ended up in a goal.
AFL champion Luke Hodge, arguably one of the greatest captains of the modern era, was highly critical of Petracca's actions.
'This next one is damning ... You've got Christian Petracca here letting him (Langford) know ... he's put the arms up, he hasn't followed in. But the worst part is what comes after,' the three-time premiership skipper said on The Agenda Setters.
'That results in a goal. Yes, he is bypassed, lets him know, lets everyone know. But where's the reaction? Do you go to the young kid and say, 'hey, good kick to the top of the goal square?'
'Do you go down to Kozzy Pickett, pat him on the back?
'Or do you walk around? And he's not going to anyone. He hasn't clapped, hasn't looked across at Langford, who didn't pass it to him, didn't say anything. (He just) turned around.
'That's a person who's worried about his own stats.
'So if you're looking as a coach coming into this Melbourne football club, the first thing I'll be doing is getting to the leaders and say play like leaders, react like leaders, and support your younger teammates.'
Dale Thomas then highlighted another example of Petracca calling for the ball despite being manned up and not in the ideal position inside forward 50.
'So just look where Petrarca's calling for the ball there. And it doesn't matter who you are. But that ball shouldn't be going into that spot,' he said.
'And yes, it's a nothing inside 50. It's a nothing entry. But if you're not confident in making the kick because there were three defenders around him, you don't deserve to get absolutely cooked for it.
'The Melksham one I can cop because at that level you should be making that kick. That should be a goal in a game you lost by that exact score. You should be making that. You have to complete those players if you're a high draft pick.
'But those ones there, that's just spraying blokes out of frustration.'
Hodge said Petracca needs to fix this issue in his game regardless of whether he is at the club next year or not.
'It's a body language. And sometimes you're that passionate about sport that you want to win. And sometimes your body language gets the better of you,' he said.
'But that's where you need to have a chat. Whether it's a couple of weeks left before the end of the season.
'And maybe he may not be there. Wherever he goes, his body language needs to get better.
'It's not all about him. It's about the team and how the team is moving forward.'
The Agenda Setters host Kane Cornes also said the club has become soft on the senior players after highlighting interim coach Troy Chaplin's post-match comments to the playing group where he praised the leaders.
'I'm actually urging they change their club mascot from a demon to a teddy bear because all they want to do is cuddle each other,' he said.
'Let's not offend the next player, let's not offend Max (Gawn), let's not offend Clayton (Oliver) or Jack (Viney), we must pump them up as much as we can.
'My point is, the new coach must drive the senior players with standards and training and expectations that's harder than they have ever been driven before because right now they don't have to do much to please the footy club.
'Whoever takes over needs to drive this club hard.'