Melbourne defender Steven May says his embattled teammate Christian Petracca has struggled with his mental health since suffering a season-ending lacerated spleen on King’s Birthday in June.
Petracca also had four broken ribs and was rushed to hospital, where he remained in ICU for almost a week, after copping an errant knee from Collingwood captain Darcy Moore.
The lucratively contracted superstar has since spent some time away from his club in Noosa, during which time it emerged that he was disgruntled with the Demons and would consider requesting a trade, were it possible.
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The 28-year-old has stayed silent publicly and is yet to deny those reports.
But Petracca addressed teammates for the first time this week when he opened up on the toll his injury has taken on him.
May said it’s been tough to see what his close mate has gone through.
“I’m good mates with ‘Trac’ and it’s upsetting to see what he’s going through; the injury and then obviously the mental health and then a lot of the media reporting. It’s obviously taken a toll on him,” May told Channel 7 ahead of the Dees’ clash with Collingwood on Friday night.
Petracca has this week immersed himself back into the club, but is still a long way off from joining in on training.
“I’ve been checking in with him. It’s good to have him back at the club now in leadership meetings, at training, and he’ll probably be in the box tonight,” May said.
“We’re a better club having him around. He’s a class clown and we’ve missed that sort of morale booster, especially while we’ve been copping it a bit. It’s good to have him back.”
May said Monday’s address to the players was Petracca’s first chance to explain why he took time away from the club.
“He was pretty emotional,” May said.
“It was more so about, he had spoken to the club about (the fact that) he needed some time off, and I think we might have been on an away game that week, so he didn’t get a chance to speak to us himself.
“He just pretty much stood up and told us exactly what he’s going through. He hasn’t missed a game (before his injury) in I don’t know how long — you take that away from someone and it can really take a big toll on you, so he needed some time away, and he pretty much just opened up to us about how he’d been feeling, how he’d been struggling.
“Mental health looks different for everyone, there’s no ‘one size fits all’.
“Some people might be better to be at the club, be involved in a coaching aspect, or some people need to get away and get out of Melbourne.
“It was just good to get some clarity on that.”
Speaking on the radio during the week, Demons leader Jake Lever said the playing group was floored when they were told the full extent of his battles.
“The thing with ‘Trac’ is 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 told SEN.
“For senior players like myself, it was more a real eye-opener of what he’s been going through and then a greater understanding.
“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 .. it was almost like a weight had lifted off his shoulders and he’s back involved and (has) his smiling face at the football club again.
“That’s the Christian Petracca that I’ve missed over the last 10 to 12 weeks.
“I fully understood once he explained to me that he needed time away from the footy club and needed time with his fiancee Bella to really get away and football wasn’t the priority at that time – which is completely understandable.
“He said to us 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 dismissed the suggestion teammates had been angry about Petracca spending time away from the club, and was adamant he hadn’t believed reports the gun midfielder was disgruntled and wanted out.
“My first reaction was, ‘I don’t think that’s true at all’,” Lever said.
“Christian Petracca, I’ve known since he was 17 years old and for the past seven years we’ve been driving the club forward together and been really passionate about making Melbourne a great team again.
“A couple of years ago he signed a seven-year deal.
“For me, I’ve seen a person that comes into the club every single day and tries to drive the club forward.
“So for someone that I’ve seen every day do that and then the story comes out, it was a big shock to me.”
Coach Simon Goodwin believes Monday’s meeting with players was an important moment for him.
“With any trauma, it takes time,” Goodwin said on Tuesday.
“But we’ve got all the time that we need for Christian.
“It’s important for us to make sure he’s really happy and healthy and feeling really invigorated about the game and that’s what we want for him.”