\n Trade\n <\/p>\n
\n Melbourne has secured a bumper draft haul.\n <\/p>\n
Melbourne has secured one of the biggest AFL draft hauls in recent memory, in a trade that saw the Demons receive three first-round draft selections from the Gold Coast SUNS in exchange for midfielder Christian Petracca. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melbourne now holds pick No.7 and 8 in next month\u2019s Telstra AFL Draft, alongside pick No.37, as well as a future first-round selection (2026 Draft) and future third-round selection (2027 Draft).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dees part ways with pick No.24 and 28 in this year\u2019s draft and a future second-round pick (2026 Draft). \u00a0<\/p>\n
Demons AFL List Manager Tim Lamb thank Petracca, who played 212 games across 11 seasons, for his contribution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTrac has made an incredible contribution during his time at the Melbourne Football Club,\u201d Lamb said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe produced many memorable moments as a Melbourne player, bringing a lot of joy to our members and supporters. His desire and drive to get the best out of himself has been a hallmark of his time in the red and blue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it\u2019s always difficult to part ways with a player of Trac\u2019s calibre, we are confident that a deal of this magnitude allows us to set the club for success whilst also allowing us to fulfil Trac\u2019s request to embark on a fresh start in the Gold Coast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank Trac, his partner Bella and his extended family for all they have given to the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTrac will always be welcome at our footy club and we and wish him and Bella all the best for this next chapter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Petracca was selected with pick No.2 in the 2014 AFL Draft and made his debut in Round 6 of the 2016 season. He celebrated his 200-game milestone earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old departs as a four-time All-Australian, two-time Keith \u2018Bluey\u2019 Truscott Memorial Trophy winner and a Melbourne Football Club Life Member, with a premiership medallion and Norm Smith medal also on his list of accolades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lamb spoke to the club\u2019s list strategy, having acquired three first round selections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Christian being the calibre of player that he is, combined with the fact he is a contracted player, it was important that any trade held a significant return for us, and was in-line with our list management strategy,\u201d Lamb said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these picks in hand, we can now attack next month\u2019s AFL draft and look to bring in more top-end talent to the club.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trade Melbourne has secured a bumper draft haul. Melbourne has secured one of the biggest AFL draft hauls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-214766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}