Melbourne star midfielder Christian Petracca is adamant he’ll play in Friday night’s semi final clash with Brisbane after doctors confirmed he risked no further injury to his leg.
Petracca suffered a hairline fracture to his tibia in a collision with Sydney veteran Lance Franklin in the opening term of their qualifying final.
The midfielder bravely opted to play on, despite fearing he’d suffered a serious knee injury.
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“Yeah I did to be honest (know I was in strife),” he revealed on AFL360.
“I could just feel it, especially in the knee area.
“By quarter time I assessed with the docs – they were really good and just said: ‘It’s nothing to do with your knee – it’s just in an awkward spot underneath the knee’.
“It was pretty hard throughout the game. My change of direction type stuff – the straight line was pretty easy.
“I had to soldier on, I was part of the team so I had to keep playing.”
Despite spending Friday night in hospital suffering from “pins and needles” Petracca says he is now doing everything to prove his fitness after being cleared of further injury to his fractured leg.
“I’m a competitive person, I want to be out there,” he said.
“I played three quarters on this injury and I felt like I did OK. I probably wasn’t explosive but I felt like it’d warmed up.
“It’s probably more of a mental thing the last few days. It’s not broken, that’s probably the one thing that’s frustrated me … its not a broken leg – it’s stable.
“The doctors have fully cleared me of that and told me I’m going to cause no further injury. That’s put my mind at ease.
“It’s just a corky and I can go out there and play.”
Describing the injury as “restricting under the knee”, Petracca said he had more targets, like tackling and contact drills, he had to meet at Thursday’s captain’s run before getting the green light to play.
“I obviously did it first five-10 of the first quarter – it was probably more of a mental side of things. To go OK, switch your mind back on the job … you’re injured at the moment,” he said.
“I actually felt, to be honest, in the second quarter they sort of put me in the forward a bit and I said: ‘Put me in the midfield a bit more’, just so I didn’t have to think about it.
“As a forward, the stop-start you are thinking about your knee. I play my best footy when I’m not thinking.”
But the star Demon conceded he wouldn’t front up against the Lions if he wasn’t fully fit.
“I want to be out there on Friday night 100 per cent. I don’t want to miss it for anything to be honest,” he said.
“But that means if I’m fully healthy. I don’t want to compromise another player’s position or spot in the team if I’m not fully fit or healthy.”
Petracca has been using cryotherapy as part of his recovery to give himself “the best chance to play”.
Teammate Bayley Fritsch was cleared of a knee injury in scans taken this week, but Charlie Spargo remains in doubt after copping a nasty blow to the throat that has left him unable to speak.
