16/07/2008 2:59 PM
Carlton coach Brett Ratten insisted on Wednesday the relationship between himself and controversial spearhead Brendan Fevola has not become strained in the wake of the stand-off regarding Fevola's future at the club.
Fevola, the 2006 Coleman Medalist and the Blues' leading goalkicker in the past five years, has still not re-signed with the club despite being offered a lucrative contract - believed to be worth as much as $2 million over three years amidst speculation he is keen on a move to Sydney.
The saga has dragged on for weeks and was compounded by Fevola's poor performance against St Kilda last Friday night as the Blues lost a must win game to slump a game outside the top eight with seven rounds remaining.
The following day Ratten was interviewed on Melbourne radio and said if players - he did not mention Fevola by name - were interested in chasing more money elsewhere than that was fine but he did not want those players at Carlton.
Fevola then responded by ringing a rival Melbourne radio station saying he was committed to staying at Carlton but yet he has still not signed a new contract.
Ratten said on Wednesday the pair had spoken privately since their respective comments on radio saying he was fine with how things stood.
"We had a brief chat this week about it - Brendan and me," he said
"We didn't speak about that (the pair's respective radio interviews) and it's not like him (Fevola) to call up (a radio station) but I think it's great he got out there on the front foot
and says he want to be at Carlton."
"That is fantastic news for us and I am pretty confident he will sign."
But yet Fevola still remains unsigned and Ratten says he was not concerned by the on-going delay.
"The two managements (Carlton's and Fevola's) are going to get together to sort it out - I don't do the contracts," he said.
"The (the Blues' management) don't give me the hurry-up to win games so I (won't give them the hurry-up to re-sign Fevola), I just want to see if we can win games of football."
Another issue surrounding Fevola in the wake of his poor performance last week was his seemingly over-friendly behaviour with the Saints' players after the game - as he hugged several opposing players and did not appeared too concerned with the Blues' costly defeat.
But while Ratten said "you might not see it again" when asked about Fevola's post match antics, he did think his star spearhead was hard done given the intense media focus on him after the game.
"I stated this previously whatever Brendan does gets magnified by 500 compared to nearly any other player in the comp whether it's good, bad or indifferent," he said.
"We want (opposition) players to shake hands and embrace (after games) and build that sportsmanship but then when someone does it, we focus on it to say how bad it was."
"Brendan is a unique character - he is an extrovert and a showman and that is why fans come through the door to see him play footy."