Christian Petracca's revelation about fiancee in hospital amid AFL trade saga at Melbourne
Petracca's AFL future has been up in the air after suffering season-ending injuries in June.
Melbourne Demons superstar Christian Petracca has opened up about his "traumatic" season-ending injuries and a frightening revelation from his fiancee Bella about his time in hospital. Petracca's AFL future has been hotly discussed for weeks, amid reports he wants out of Melbourne and is keen to join another Victorian team after becoming disillusioned with the Demons.
It's understood part of Petracca's frustrations with the club stem from the horror incident against Collingwood in June, when he suffered a lacerated spleen, punctured lung and four broken ribs after copping an accidental knee from Magpies skipper Darcy Moore. The brutal episode left Petracca struggling physically and mentally and he was granted leave by the club to travel with his fiancee Bella to Noosa.
However, Melbourne's players were not initially aware of the extent of Petracca's struggles and questioned why he was absent from the club, causing friction within the playing group. And according to new reports from The Age and SEN, Petracca's presence at the club's end-of-season function on Saturday night caused "tension" and left some Demons players feeling "noticeably uncomfortable".
The Age's Sam McClure reported that Petracca's "falling out with the club appears to be beyond repair" and that he informed Melbourne about his desire to leave the club in an exit interview on Monday. Demons coach Simon Goodwin and the club's powerbrokers have been steadfast in their insistence that Petracca will see out the remaining five years on his lucrative deal and that they have no intention of trading him.
While the 28-year-old is yet to publicly break his silence about his playing future, he has opened up about his time in hospital and revealed he had fears he "might not make it" through surgery on his injured spleen. Petracca appeared on a podcast that was released on Tuesday and didn't address his Demons future but went into detail about a visit from his fiancee Bella in hospital, where she made a frightening admission to the 28-year-old.
Christian Petracca's fiancee makes grim reveal in hospital
Petracca had to undergo surgery without going under general anaesthetic and revealed that he'd been dealing with insomnia after regularly reliving the ordeal. He described it as "probably the most traumatic thing I've experienced in my life" and admitted it had taken a massive personal toll, with one particular hospital visit from fiancee Bella - while Petracca was in critical condition - rocking them both to their cores.
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"This must have been 3am in the morning. I didn't know at the time; I was drugged up," Petracca told The Howie Games podcast. "Bella came to the ICU the next day and basically said at three in the morning he (the surgeon) called to say you might not make it, basically. (The surgeon said) 'He's in critical condition' because of internal bleeding and everything.
"For me, it was more that that hit home rather than the actual injury itself. I'll be fine physically and I'll be able to train and get back to playing. It's just more that piece; that the people around you feel it more than you." Petracca was forced to deny reports at the time that he and Bella were angry at the way the club had handled his injuries after initially allowing him to play on. Petracca admitted no one knew the extent of the problems at first.
The latest comments from Petracca add another layer to the ongoing saga around the Melbourne premiership winner, with Carlton's Harry McKay named as a potential makeweight in what would be a bombshell trade deal with the Demons. However, McKay's manager David Trotter told SEN on Tuesday that the former Coleman Medallist was happy at the Blues and would not be used be a potential bargaining chip for Petracca.
It comes after Collingwood and Carlton were singled out as the two most likely destinations for Petracca in the event the Demons changed their minds and decided to trade the superstar. But Collingwood does not have a first-round draft pick or a key forward that Melbourne would likely want in return, which elevated Carlton's McKay to the front of the queue.
with AAP
