Carroll on the outer

The stand-off between the Melbourne Football Club and out-of-favour defender Nathan Carroll continued on Monday morning with the 27-year-old a notable absentee from the Demons' first training session of the pre-season.

Carroll, who turns 28 next week, has another year left on his contract with Melbourne but the Demons hierarchy finally lost patience with him following a 'Mad Monday' incident involving retired big man Ben Holland last month.

The indiscretion ensured that Carroll's second off-season in a row has been marred by at least one unsavoury off-field misdemeanour.

In the lead-up to the 2008 season, the former Claremont player was caught up in bar-room scuffles in Greece and Germany with young gun Brock McLean while on a European holiday.

A Melbourne newspaper also suggested earlier this month that Carroll had allegedly racially vilified a staff member at the football club.

"We spoke about Nathan, obviously tried to trade Nathan last week, (we had) no trade come so we'll have a meeting (that) might be (taking place) this week - more likely next week - with list management and we'll sit down and discuss what we do with Nathan," Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said.

"We'll talk to (Carroll's manager) Ricky Nixon, we'll talk to the list management committee ... and then we'll make a decision (on his future)."

Carroll wasn't the only Demon bandied around in trade negotiations last week with club leader Brad Green seriously considering offers from Collingwood, Sydney and Carlton.

Ultimately, the 27-year-old decided to stick with Melbourne and put pen to paper on a new three-year deal with the Demons late last week - much to the relief of Bailey.

"We're really pleased that Brad's decided to sign and stick with us for three years," Bailey said.

"His year was very good, he was pretty consistent for us, Brad, obviously with the leadership stuff earlier in the year (he was left out of the leadership group), but he hung in there."

"His commitment and his confirmation to Melbourne is fantastic, we think he's gonna be a good leader for us again."

With the dearth of on-field leaders at Melbourne, securing the services of Green - who finished third in Melbourne's best-and-fairest award this year - was an important step in the club's rebuilding process.

However, Bailey denied that the club's relationship with Green had been strained as a result of the events of last week's trade period.

"The integrity and the dignity you've got to be able to handle yourself in the (trade) week, (it's) very important especially for a player like Brad as well," said Bailey.

"He had a tough week but he's a Melbourne player so we're really happy with that, we don't have any hangover from the week at all."