What Petracca told teammates at players-only meeting

August 21, 2024 E Jazz Reporter

Melbourne superstar Christian Petracca has opened up to teammates about the trauma he endured from his severe internal injuries, in an address a senior Demon described as an “eye-opener”.

Demons defender Jake Lever said he “absolutely” had a clearer understanding now why the gun midfielder had been away at a time the side was fighting in vain to salvage their season.

Melbourne star Christian Petracca addressed teammates this week about his extended absence from the club.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images

Petracca’s playing future remains uncertain after reports emerged he was disgruntled and wanted to leave, but the Demons have categorically stated he will not be traded, and there will also be difficulty for any club to find the draft bounty needed to satisfy Melbourne if they were.

Lever said Petracca had not spoken to teammates earlier as he had not yet come to terms with the serious nature of his injury, which required him to be operated on in the early hours of the morning without full anaesthetic.

“We probably just haven’t understood what he’s gone through since his injury. He spent a long time away from the football club,” Lever said on SEN.

“For senior players like myself it was really an eye-opener of what he’s been going through. I know he wasn’t in (at the club) a hell of a lot over the last 10 to 12 weeks, but since he’s spoken to the group about what he’s gone through, you can see him coming through the door (again).

“It was almost like a weight had lifted off his shoulders. He’s back involved, (we see) his smiling face at the football club again, that’s the Christian Petracca that I’ve missed over the last 10-12 weeks.

“I fully understood once he explained to me that he needed time away and needed time with his fiancée Bella to really get away and football wasn’t the priority at that time. Which is completely understandable.

“Everyone goes through ups and downs in life and his happens to be a little bit more public than most others. I love seeing him in the football club now with a smiling face, you can see there’s a weight lifted off his shoulders.

“I think he said to us he said he couldn’t speak to us five or six weeks ago, he wasn’t ready to talk about it. He hadn’t come to terms with it himself, let alone trying to speak in front of 44 guys that you see every day.”

Lever said there was no ill feeling from players towards Petracca, who regularly posts cooking videos on social media, for taking a vacation in Noosa last month.

“The question was at the time ‘where’s Trac?’” Lever said.

“As we all know in the media world once that question gets asked it snowballs into ‘we’re pissed off or angry he’s not at the football club’, but that’s never been further from the truth.

“We understood he must have been going through something. People close to him were in constant conversations with him.

“We just love the person he is, we know he’s a leader at our football club, so I sat there and thought ’I’d love Christian Petracca at the footy club every day bringing his jovial self and bringing energy at a time when we were really struggling. We were not playing very good footy, losing games by small margins.

“We’re sitting there going ‘how good would it be for Trac to be at the football club?’

“That was his time away. As a football club, we’ve moved past making sure everyone’s at the footy club all the time. We want to give people space and time if they need it. It definitely gave me a clearer understanding once he got up in front of the group and explained, and made me understand it a lot more.”

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