Christian Petracca goes public with sad confession about AFL future amid injury nightmare
Petracca says he doesn't know when he will play AFL again.
Melbourne Demons star Christian Petracca says he is unsure when he will feel up to playing AFL again after suffering an excruciating injury in the Demons' King's Birthday loss to Collingwood. The midfielder sustained a season-ending laceration to his spleen, along with four broken ribs and a punctured lung after copping a brutal knee to the ribs from Darcy Moore.
The 28-year-old is now recovering at home but speaking for the first time since picking up the gnarly injury he admits he is unsure about his future in the AFL. “It’s been pretty traumatic. It’s been pretty full on, I don’t wish this upon my worst enemy,” he told Nova 100 radio. “I’m not allowed to run for seven weeks, I can’t have contact sport for 12 weeks."
At 28 years old, Petracca should have many years left in the AFL but right now the Demons great says he has serious self-doubts about returning to the game. “I watched a little bit of footy on the weekend, I had to turn it off,” he added. “Even a simple tackle, you put yourself back in the situation you were. So of course, at the moment it’s quite raw."
Christian Petracca says decision to play on was his
Petracca was substituted off after the blow but extraordinarily came back onto the ground despite being in agony. He eventually succumbed to his injuries at half-time and was transferred to the hospital, where the shocking extent of the damage was uncovered.
The Demons were criticised for allowing Petracca to play 21 minutes more before being sent to hospital where it was revealed he had a lacerated spleen and punctured lung. But Petracca said it was entirely his decision to go back on and said he had “full confidence in how our medical team responded and the procedures they followed”. “I’m responsible for putting myself out there by the way for people talking about the medicos,” Petracca wrote in an Instagram post.
In a statement last Tuesday afternoon, Melbourne said Petracca’s pain "increased at half-time" and, “despite assessing relatively well”, it was then decided that he should go to hospital to be checked out solely as a precaution. “Obviously, Christian’s health is the number one priority for us at the moment,” Dees footy boss Alan Richardson said.
“The next few weeks will be crucial, and we’ll be monitoring his progress closely to make sure he heals properly and fully. He’s obviously an extremely important player for the team, but his health and recovery are our top priorities right now.”
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Petracca admits if he had known the extent of his injuries he wouldn't have come back on. “If I had known the severity, I obviously wouldn’t have gone back out there,” Petracca said. “I had surgery at 2am. I wasn’t under anaesthetic because my blood levels were so low.”
with agencies
