Jake Lever reveals what Christian Petracca told teammates, tells of confusion surrounding injury
Jake Lever has revealed what Christian Petracca told his teammates when he called a meeting earlier this week, and how the playing group felt about his absence.
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Melbourne defender Jake Lever has denied reports that players were “pissed off” or “angry” with teammate Christian Petracca after his time away from the club.
The Norm Smith medallist addressed his teammates last week after reports he was unhappy at the club, having missed the second half of the season after life-threatening injuries sustained in the King’s Birthday game against Collingwood.
He said Monday’s address was an “eye-opener” for the players who hadn’t previously understood the mental and physical toll of the midfielder’s battle.
“We probably just haven’t understood what he’s gone through, since his injury he’s been a long time away from the football club,” Lever said on SEN on Wednesday.
“He just said he couldn’t speak to us five or six weeks ago, he wasn’t ready to talk about it and he hadn’t come to terms with it himself, let alone speaking to 44 guys that you see every day.”
The month Petracca spent in Noosa was following the traumatic injuries he sustained after copping a knee from Collingwood’s Darcy Moore in round 13 – the extent of the injuries included a ruptured spleen, punctured lung and four broken ribs.
Lever claimed there was no animosity and it was simply the desire to have their loyal leader and star midfielder back at the club during a tough period.
“We were really struggling, we were not playing very good footy or losing games by small margins … the question at the time was sort of ‘where’s Trac?’,” he said.
“We were just sitting there going, how good would it be for Trac to be at the football club … (but) we understood that he must’ve been going through something.”
Lever said Petracca now had a “weight lifted off his shoulders” after opening up to his teammates earlier in the week.
“Since he’s spoken to the group about what he’s gone through, you can see him coming through the door … he’s back involved and (we’re seeing) his smiling face at the football club again,” Lever said.
“That’s the Christian Petracca I’ve missed … it definitely gave me a clearer understanding once he got up in front of the group.”
As for Petracca’s future, Lever said reports that he ‘wanted out’ from the Demons had come as a “big shock”.
“A couple of years ago he signed a seven-year deal so obviously when you read stories like that you’re not sure if they’re true or not … but I’ve seen the guy who comes into the club every day and tries to drive the club forward,” he said.
“For the past seven years we’ve been driving the club forward together and really passionate about making Melbourne a great team again.”
It comes as longtime Melbourne assistant coach Greg Stafford announced on Wednesday that he would depart the club at the end of the season.
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