Bomber Jared Petrenko sought advice from former teammate Ian Callinan before joining Essendon
EAGLES midfielder Jared Petrenko sought advice from three people including former Crows’ teammate Ian Callinan before deciding to join AFL club Essendon as a top-up player.
EAGLES midfielder Jared Petrenko sought advice from three people including former Crows teammate Ian Callinan before joining AFL club Essendon as a top-up player this week.
The 25-year-old former Crow who played 76 games with Adelaide between 2009 and 2014 flew to Melbourne on Thursday ahead of his first training session with the Bombers on Friday.
It is the last place Petrenko expected to find himself a month ago when he was in the middle of a pre-season with his SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens.
Delisted by Adelaide last year, he trained with St Kilda in the hope of a second chance but was overlooked in the draft.
But opportunity — albeit in the form of a three-week contract with the Bombers for the NAB Challenge competition — has come knocking when he least expected it.
“It was a shock to the system but it’s an opportunity,” Petrenko told The Advertiser.
After getting the call from Essendon a fortnight ago, Petrenko spoke to three key people — Eagles coach Michael Godden, his manager Michael Doughty and former Crows teammate Ian Callinan.
Callinan knows the value of opportunity more than most. He was forced to wait until the age of 27 before being rookie listed by the Crows and went on to kick 49 goals in 32 games.
But Petrenko felt a sense of loyalty and obligation to the Eagles who had supported him all summer after he was cut by the Crows.
“I was pretty hesitant really to jump straight into it, I feel pretty drawn to the Eagles and I spent the whole summer there,” Petrenko said of the Bombers’ offer.
“I love the club and they’ve been very supportive of me and this decision.
“But I had to speak to a few key people about whether or not I was going to do it, people like Ian Callinan, they just said ‘you don’t want to regret not doing it, you might as well give it a crack’.
“And the Eagles have been very supportive of it and I’m very thankful for that.”
Petrenko is living with North Adelaide’s Mitch Clisby, who has also joined the Bombers as a top-up player, while they’re both in Melbourne training for Essendon’s first NAB Challenge game against St Kilda on March 7.
Despite uncertainty surrounding the future of some Essendon players who may be banned from playing in the regular season which starts on April 2, Petrenko is not looking any further than the pre-season competition.
“I’m not looking too far ahead of the next three weeks, I’ve done a full pre-season for the first time in a couple of years and I’m just looking forward to playing footy again,” he said.
“It’s a very unique situation and these three weeks, we’ll just see what happens.
“I haven’t even had a day at the club yet, Friday we get to train with the boys and the whole squad so I’ll start to figure things out from there.”
Having been hampered by shoulder, knee, feet and leg injuries in recent years, Petrenko is relieved to arrive at Essendon fully fit.