AFL set to re-investigate Christian Petracca’s King’s Birthday scare

The AFL is set to reinvestigate Christian Petracca’s King’s Birthday near-death experience after an official demand from the AFLPA.

The AFL will reinvestigate the circumstances of Christian Petracca’s King’s Birthday near-death experience after an official demand from the AFLPA.

But the AFLPA and league are still haggling over the terms of reference for a review the medical treatment of players who suffer serious onfield injuries.

The player union believes a review which makes recommendations increasing patient care is critical given the severity of the incident.

It is keen to make changes proactively rather than after a player loses his life in an on-field incident.

Petracca continues to make his way back. Picture: Ian Currie

The player union’s push for a review covering multiple facets of how players are treated in the aftermath of severe injuries comes despite an AFL review and AFL Doctors Association review both ticking off Petracca’s treatment by the Melbourne doctor.

AFL chief medical officer Michael Makdissi ticked off Melbourne’s treatment of Petracca in an internal review last year.

AFLPA chief executive Paul Marsh told the Herald Sun the league was now on board with a further review.

“A player suffered a very serious injury and we believe it’s imperative the industry learns from it. We have a duty to make the game as safe as possible for the players,” he said.

“We are currently working through details to jointly review this with the AFL. We are hopeful the review will be completed in the coming period of time.”

Petracca agreed to return to the ground after a crunching collision from Darcy Moore but ultimately was diagnosed with four broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and a small puncture in his lung.

Petracca had to wait for some time as another ambulance arrived at the MCG given the ambulance under the ground was on call for any members of the public.

He also was transferred to a second hospital after his initial diagnosis and it was only hours after his collision that he was diagnosed with the severe internal issue.

An AFL independent doctor was close by the Demons doctors behind their bench and helped out in his care.

Petracca didn’t play another game in 2024 after the incident. Picture: Michael Klein

There is a concession that Petracca wanted to return to the ground so rather than focusing on anyone’s fault during the MCG incident the player union would focus on future changes to policy.

In an ideal world clubs would have access to elite scanning equipment to fast-track diagnosis but normal X-rays do not reveal some internal injuries.

Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson suffered a lacerated spleen in July that ended his season, while Mason Cox lost 2-3 litres of bleed early last year after an innocuous bump turned into a ruptured spleen.

AFL Doctors Association boss Barry Rigby, also the Gold Coast club doctor, said last year the Demons doctors had not erred.

“We have looked at Christian’s circumstances closely and done a constructive critique on what did or didn’t happen. Hindsight is a wonderful gift in some respects. But there was an adequate assessment done. The decision in retrospect (for him to return to the ground) was the wrong one, but we don’t want to criticise the process,” he said.

“There was a review done by the AFL and (chief medical officer) Michael Makdissi.

“All of those boxes were ticked, the process was followed. The emergency physician was involved. The club doctor and hospital were involved. Even in hospital the (damage) wasn’t clear and obvious in the early stages. So I don’t think changing processes would have got us a different outcome.”

Petracca told Seven on Thursday night he wanted to remain at the Demons long-term after strong conversions with the club across summer.

“Yes, definitely. I love the footy club, I love the connections I have built at the footy club. I have got long lasting friendships since I was 17 or 18 years old,” he said.

“I had honest conversations about where I think we can improve as a footy club and Goody (coach Simon Goodwin) and the footy club have been awesome in the last four or five months in devising a plan and making the club feel connected.”

Originally published as AFL set to re-investigate Christian Petracca’s King’s Birthday scare