New Melbourne CEO Paul Guerra has confirmed that star midfielder Christian Petracca and Steven May are looking at trades away from the club in the upcoming trade period.
In his first letter addressed to members as the Dees CEO, Guerra explained Melbourne wanted players who are committed to the club for the long term.
"We know our future success will be built on people and players who are fully committed to where we are heading," Guerra said in a statement released by Melbourne
"We met with Christian late last week, where he expressed his desire to explore a fresh start in 2026."
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"Christian is contracted for a further four years and is a once-in-a-generation player. With this in mind, any decision regarding Christian’s future will be made in the best interest of the Melbourne Football Club."
"In terms of our overarching strategy for this period, our focus is simple; we will explore every opportunity to strengthen our list. Our job is to ensure our list is the best it can be and that ultimately Melbourne Football Club is competing in September."
Melbourne's list manager, Tim Lamb, also briefly spoke about Petracca's future, explaining that any decision about his future would be in the best interest of the Demons
"It's pretty clear from our point of view [that] Christian is a contracted player for the next four years, he is a generational talent, he is a great of our club and whatever happens about Christian's future, that any decision that is made will be made in the best interest of the Melbourne Football Club," Lamb said in a video released by Melbourne.
Lamb also confirmed that the Demons told premiership backman Steven May to look elsewhere if he wants to extend his career beyond next year.
"Steve's been a great player for our club and is contracted for next year, so there's a strong chance he's still here," he said
"We spoke to him about the potential to extend his career and if he could do that at another club, we would support that but we're also really aware and really comfortable if that doesn't work out that he comes back in."
Lamb said the club would be looking to bring in a ruckman and key forward in the trade period to help Dees captain and ruckman Max Gawn.
"We need to target the right guy who is going to come in and learn under Max and hopefully take over from him whenever Max retires," Lamb said.
"We also think an experienced key forward would be a good addition to the list. We're really excited by our young guys... but we do need some support down there for our young guys to help their development, so if we could achieve that, that would be a good outcome as well."
Melbourne will also lose Charlie Spargo who has chosen to go to North Melbourne as a free agent.