Max Gawn reveals the spray he gave Christian Petracca before injury details came to light

Melbourne captain Max Gawn admits he gave Christian Petracca an all-time spray for not putting in after the Demons midfielder returned to the field in the side's King's Birthday loss to Collingwood. Petracca went off in the first quarter of the clash after copping a brutal knee to the ribs from Darcy Moore.

Petracca suffered four broken ribs, lacerations to the spleen and a small puncture in his lung but after being cleared by the Demons medical team, he returned to action in the second term. The Melbourne superstar was largely a passenger and looked like he didn't want to kick the ball before he was put out of his misery and subbed out of the game at half-time. He was then transferred to the hospital, where the shocking extent of his injuries were uncovered.

While many were forgiving of his performance considering the circumstances, with most baffled as to how he could even return to the field, Gawn - unaware of the seriousness of his injuries - gave him an earful for not putting his body on the line. Gawn told The Marty Sheargold Show on Tuesday that he had given Petracca a spray but then felt embarrassed after learning just how badly he was hurt.

"He actually came out in the second quarter, and he put in - not the best effort I've seen Trac (Petracca) put in," Gawn said. "And I went and had a word to him and now there's real egg on my face. He was out there dying (laughs)... I was telling him to lift! I’ve apologised to him since.

"He looked in a lot of pain. To be fair, I've seen people with a cracked rib and they are in as much pain. I'm presuming it was very difficult to diagnose that it was a genuine internal injury like that. No one is allowed to see him (Petracca). He’s doing well. No one is allowed to see him because of his immune system – spleen-related.

"All I know is we don’t have him for a long time. I daresay if we’re in the pointy end – I’m talking Prelim or Grand Final – it’s going to be hard to say he can’t play."

Christian Petracca unsure when he will play AFL again

The 28-year-old is recovering at home and says he has a long road ahead and won't be back in 2024. “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.

"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."

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Petracca admits if he had known the extent of his injuries he wouldn't have come back on the field. “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.”