Christian Petracca cops backlash from AFL greats over Melbourne awards night decision

AFL greats Matthew Lloyd, Jimmy Bartel and Kane Cornes have all questioned Christian Petracca after it was revealed on Wednesday he'll be skipping Melbourne's best and fairest award ceremony. Petracca won't attend the club presentation night because he'll be in Austria for a Red Bull training camp, which he hopes will help speed up his recovery.

Petracca suffered horrific injuries during a game against Collingwood earlier this year, including fractured ribs, a punctured lung and lacerated spleen. He was hospitalised for weeks and didn't play again in 2024, and at one stage doctors weren't sure whether he was going to make it.

The 28-year-old said in an interview on Melbourne’s website on Wednesday that he's “just trying to prioritise my training and my injury” with the overseas trip. “It’ll be awesome probably from a mental point of view, getting back to that confidence in myself and my body, ready to attack day one of pre-season,” he said.

“For me it’s just been the most amazing experience, being able to use their facilities and have access to some of the best high performance people in the world. I want to be able to compete and get back out on the (MCG) in Round 1 for the fans, and be really excited to run back out there.”

Melbourne fitness boss Selwyn Griffith said the Demons will be able to have input into Petracca’s training regimen while in the Red Bull camp. “This training camp is crucial for Christian, both from a performance and mental wellbeing perspective,” Griffith said. “We have worked closely with the high-performance team at Red Bull to ensure the camp maximises every opportunity, with the goal of having Christian fully prepared and ready for day one of pre-season.”

AFL greats condemn Christian Petracca over awards night snub

But the fact it means he'll miss the best and fairest awards has sparked some backlash. According to Essendon great Lloyd, it's not a great look considering Petracca was trying to get out of the club just weeks ago.

"With what he's been through where he was seen as 'selfish', I think it's a real lack of awareness," Lloyd said on Footy Classified on Wednesday night. "He gets paid his money to represent Melbourne. It's one of their major functions for the year."

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Lloyd said it sets an unwanted precedent that other Demons players might want to follow. He added: "Imagine the next player that turns up and says to the club 'something has popped up for me, are you right if I miss the best and fairest?'. That's why you have problems within a club if there's rules for some and rules for others."

Eddie McGuire said he didn't have a problem with it, if it means Petracca will be able to get back to his best sooner rather than later. But Damian Barrett questioned why he couldn't simply fly out a day later and show his face at the club's biggest function.

Jimmy Bartel said Petracca needs to show up at the awards night and make a statement that he's committed to the club. "You should try and make both work," the Geelong great said. "He needs to get up and say 'I'm super committed to the club and want to do my best for the next 12 months'."

Kane Cornes also critical of Christian Petracca decision

Petracca did express those sentiments in his interview with the Demons, saying: "The conversations I’ve had over the past two or three months with the club have been really healthy. We’ve had really robust discussions. I think that’s awesome. Like any workplace or any footy club, you have these conversations throughout the year and you just want to make the environment a really good one that we love coming to work.”

But Cornes also reckons it's another mis-step by the wantaway star. “This has to be a night that Christian Petracca attends," he said on SEN radio. "Angus Brayshaw is going to speak for the first time since he's retired, I think he should be there for that.

“And he just should be there with everything that he's gone through and with everything he's put the club through with all his angst towards the footy club. He needs to be there on that night to say, ‘Ok, I'm in. I’m in because this is about setting the tone for next year’, not off on a paid partnership with Red Bull.

“Clearly the overseas training camp can wait. I can't for the life of me work out why Melbourne has allowed him to do this and why he wouldn't be there on a significant night with everything that's gone on with his future.”

with agencies