Melbourne Demons pre-season training: Steven May trains with teammates amid probe into Sorrento pub brawl

Steven May has trained with Melbourne despite alleged involvement in a bar brawl, while Christian Petracca is closing in on a return to full training. See the latest from the Dees’ track.

Melbourne star Christian Petracca is edging closer to competitive football with a return to contact training forecast within the next fortnight.

Petracca, 29, has not played since the King’s Birthday game in June last year where he suffered significant internal injuries, before cracking a rib at training in January proved a further setback.

Petracca completed drills away from the team on Wednesday morning, joining Kade Chandler and Tom Fullarton for running and short ball drills, before engaging briefly in further drills while wearing a “no contact” fluorescent cap.

He then ran laps while the team completed more extensive match simulation models.

He has done no contact training since the January rib incident, with Melbourne’s first pre-season practice match the final outing of the league’s community series and not scheduled until Sunday March 2 against Fremantle.

Defender Steven May trained fully on Wednesday amid further allegations this week surrounding a Sorrento street brawl, with the Demons saying this week that it was “the role of police to check the veracity of any complaint, and we will assist where required”.

The defender worked alongside the likes of Harrison Petty and Tom McDonald in quelling the Demons attackers in match simulation drills, completing the entirety of the lengthy Gosch’s Paddock session.

May, a premiership player at Melbourne, was this week also named as part of the Indigenous All Stars team that will face Fremantle next week.

Livewire forward Kysaiah Pickett has also been named in the team but did not train on Wednesday morning, missing the session for personal reasons.

Steven May trained with Melbourne teammates on Wednesday. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

RETURNING BRIGADE

Ruck Max Gawn is back training fully after a freak larynx injury last month and was firmly in the thick of match drills before finishing the two-hour session with strong running.

Defender Jake Lever has returned to full training after off-season shoulder and knee surgery but was in and out of proceedings on Wednesday morning before ending the session on a bike alongside Jake Melksham, who was this week felled with a hamstring injury that will sideline him for up to four weeks, who completed a number of laps throughout the morning.

Shane McAdam was another who was tracking the boundary line, running laps rather than partaking in match simulation, while Charlie Spargo also completing straight-line running.

Luker Kentfield and Koltyn Tholstrup both were not sighted at the session, with the club having revealed this week they have battled pneumonia and bone stress respectively.

NEW YEAR CLARRY-FIED

This time last year, Clayton Oliver was coming off the back of a break away from the club as he dealt with personal issues.

On Wednesday, that seemed a world away as he dominated match simulation drills with relative ease in a sign the slick and speedy midfielder could well and truly be back in business.

His physique was noted, as was that of fellow ballwinner Christian Salem, with the pair visibly trimmer than the end of last season, but his knack for the Sherrin hasn’t shifted.

Oliver, 27, saw plenty of the ball

Draftee Aidan Johnson was heavily involved and looked strong up forward alongside Daniel Turner.

Clayton Oliver in action on Wednesday. Picture: David Crosling

GOGGLEBOX

Tom Sparrow is donning a new accessory as the season proper looms, with protective goggles on hand for the midfielder in a bid to avoid further contact around his eye region after a recent clash damaged his eyelid.

Bailey Laurie needed attention after suffering a blood nose after an innocuous knock from Trent Rivers on the Punt Road side of the ground, with the quick clip forcing him from the field to be cleaned up.