AFL 2024: Avoiding drama could be side benefit of Christian Petracca skipping Melbourne’s awards night

Opting to skip the club’s awards night after a turbulent season for Christian Petracca has been labelled a good idea.

Melbourne has made the right call to protect the morale of its players by allowing Christian Petracca to skip its best and fairest, according to former GWS captain Phil Davis.

It was revealed on Wednesday the reigning Demons club champion would be absent from the end-of-season celebration as he travelled to Austria for a Red Bull training camp.

Melbourne fitness boss Selwyn Griffith defended the timing of the overseas trip as a “crucial” step in Petracca’s recovery from a harrowing injury ordeal following the King’s Birthday game.

Davis said his first instinct was that Petracca should attend the best and fairest, but the Demons may be happy to avoid any “drama” leading into the pre-season.

“I initially was surprised to read the headline, and I probably thought about it a little bit more – with his absence from the football club more recently,” Davis said on Thursday.

“With all the things that have gone on … maybe it is best to just start again in the 2025 season.

Petracca has the green light to hit the gas on his rehab 🚦🏎️

Full interview + feature 🎥 | https://t.co/eGg0AZYXmtpic.twitter.com/CTzoG8wtp1

— Melbourne Demons (@melbournefc) September 18, 2024

“The more I thought about it is there’s a fair bit to work through when he comes back, and maybe that environment is not the best first place for a full club interaction, maybe let’s just delay that to 2025.”

Davis said best and fairest nights set the tone for the next season, pointing to Damien Hardwick’s impassioned comments at Gold Coast’s function on Monday night.

“Best and fairests are strange environments, you’ve got fans there, people are disjointed, people have just recently been delisted there, trades, so much going on … that is probably not necessarily the best thing for the football club,” he told SEN.

“It’s a group (that won’t be together again) for six to seven to eight weeks, and that’s why you don’t need any drama come the best and fairest.

“We don’t know the work that’s been done behind the scenes in terms of making sure everyone’s on the same page and being as comfortable as you can be.

“It’s a long time until they all get in the room again, and any permeation of doubt or frustration will only grow over the next six to eight weeks.”

Christian Petracca is honouring his deal with Red Bull. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Petracca, who said he expected to train on the first day of pre-season, said he was “just trying to prioritise my training and my injury” with the trip.

“It’ll be awesome probably from a mental point of view, getting back to that confidence in myself and my body, ready to attack day one of pre-season,” he said.

“For me, it’s just been the most amazing experience, being able to use their facilities and have access to some of the best high performance people in the world.”

Originally published as AFL 2024: Avoiding drama could be side benefit of Christian Petracca skipping Melbourne’s awards night