Christian Petracca reveals How Melbourne turned the game against the Western Bulldogs
The Bulldogs piled on eight consecutive goals and led by 22 points, but Melbourne never panicked, Christian Petracca reveals how he and the Demons stay cool in a crisis.
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Melbourne has started its premiership defence as the swing kings.
In the aftermath of Wednesday night’s pulsating win over Western Bulldogs, the unstoppable Christian Petracca said the Demons never fear momentum in a football game.
No matter how big the deficit, or how close they get to the lion’s mouth, Simon Goodwin’s men have unwavering confidence they can get the match back on their terms.
It happened for the third time in five games in Wednesday night’s season-opener.
The Bulldogs piled on eight goals in-a-row and led by 22 points when Petracca’s crew flipped the script with another withering second-half burst, repeating what happened in last year’s Grand Final when the Dogs took hold, momentarily, of the second term through Marcus Bontempelli and Adam Treloar.
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And don’t forget in Round 23 when the Cats led comfortably by more than 30 points before Max Gawn inspired his Demons to a remarkable last term which helped put the club on track for a drought-breaking flag.
No matter how far the Demons fall down the well, they know they can climb out.
How do the Demons do it?
Petracca said it was a matter of trust that even when the momentum of a game turns against them, the red and blue have an even stronger counter-attack ready.
“We just have enormous belief and trust in our system, and our running and high performance,” Petracca said.
“And to be honest, I didn’t even know the Bulldogs kicked eight goals in-a-row until you look at the scoreboard and realise then how much you are down by.
“But we don’t go into our shells.
“We think it is a test of our culture and what you do is you just look for little moments to stand up.
“And I thought our defenders really did that because the guys were a bit inexperienced. We were missing a few and then Salem went down and Angus Brayshaw went back there.
“But they were fantastic, and the game now is all about momentum. So as soon as we kick one you get that feeling, that excitement, and say ‘let’s go again’, because we know we can score and we have a system and a game plan that enables us to score quickly.”
It is a sweet spot of sorts for a Melbourne side which unfurled its flag and underlined its premiership favourtism at the MCG as Goodwin plugged gaps in the defence and Petracca ran riot with another 38 possessions and two goals.
It was eerily similar to his Norm Smith Medal performance and indeed scary for rival teams wondering how on earth to stop a man at the peak of his powers, as part of a brigade of Melbourne matchwinners.
To put Petracca’s brilliance into perspective, there have been just two occasions across the past two seasons where a player has recorded +35 disposals, +15 contested possessions, +10 inside 50s and +10 score involvements in a match, according to Champion Data.
That’s Petracca in the Grand Final and again in Round 1, 2022.
More broadly, aside from the Bulldogs’ second quarter takeover, this was a polished and slick display from Melbourne, even without one of its key architects, Salem, steering things out of half back.
For Petracca, his personal focus has shifted ever so slightly in the lead-up to this season in a bid to help keep arguably the game’s No. 1 player and his teammates at the top of the AFL mountain.
The No. 2 draft pick spent last preseason building his engine to elite midfield standards, but this summer the brilliant playmaker spent more time fortifying his mind and helping train his thinking to prepare for the mental challenges.
Dealing with the higher expectations, the pressures, the constant attention, and perhaps the scrutiny if it comes. Melbourne will likely stumble at some point this season unless it can pull off a perfect season.
So instead of endless laps and fitness work, Petracca, 26, has wisely invested in his own zen. Meditation and mindfulness. Taking time out when his life feels “chaotic”. He said “my psychologist has been great for me”.
There is no stigma, no hesitation when it comes time for Petracca to invest in his own mental health.
“I’m a 26-year-old kid with an iPhone. Social media these days is pretty full on,” Petracca said.
“And I don’t miss a beat.
“You are lying if you think you don’t read into it, because it is quite hard not to.
“We live in a world where one click of a button and you can see anything (criticism).
“For me, I fee l like I have got a lot better at seeing it and just accepting it. Saying ‘Oh well, everyone has got an opinion, who really cares’ type of thing.
“My girlfriend loves me. My parents, my family, my teammates, that is all I really care about.
“The old Christian would probably get consumed by it. I just accept it now and move on.”
These days, Petracca said he is finding ways to strike a better balance between footy and his personal life.
His rise over the past two years has been astronomical, but there are dangers attached to the adulation and spotlight, and Petracca has felt the toll at times.
“I actually found this pre-season and off-season quite challenging from an expectation point of view,” he said.
“Yes, we’ve done it (premiership). We go again. I found myself taking extra time to take a mental break, to switch off.
“So when I’m training train hard I go hard, but then when I’m off I had to really switch off.
“I have got to utilise those breaks and as I’m getting older, having that life and time away from the field is the perfect recipe for performing on the field and doing what I do.”
That said, sometimes Petracca finds it hard to sit still.
“Some people can sit in a room for 20 minutes and meditate, I can’t do that. I’m good for 5-10 minutes, but I try and do other things, too, like being mindful. Staying in the moment,” he said.
“Not getting distracted. I journal. I calm myself down.
“I can be a pretty chaotic person at times, so the more I calm myself down the better.”
As for their chase for back-to-back flags, the Demons seem up to their necks in another prime opportunity, albeit at the start of the 2022 journey.
Petracca said the Demons had not lost any hunger, and that the return of crowds had upped the exhilaration factor all over again. If anything, they are renewed.
“I’m not satisfied with what I have done. Yes we have won a premiership and there has been a few individual accolades, but for me I love the feeling of pushing myself and knowing where I can get to,” he said.
“I do a lot of the mental side of the game, sometimes even more than the physical side.
“l try and get myself ready for the game, and these types of moments, and I love playing in front of big crowds. It is such an amazing feeling playing in front of 60,000 back at the MCG, it was really special.
“We are pretty hungry to be honest, we are not satisfied. Last year was amazing and was one of the best feelings I have felt. That is what is driving us.”
ROBBO: CAN DUSTY GET TO CHRISTIAN PETRACCA’S LEVEL?
Momentum is one of football’s favourite words, but also one of its mystifying.
It delivers powerful and hubris footy for the team that has it and frigid and sloppy football for the team that doesn’t.
Then it changes.
That comes generally on the back of effort and intent, which generally flips the important statistics.
Wednesday night’s season opener was momentum overload, which is not unfamiliar for a contest between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, two teams who have disdain for each other. One is jealous and the other is premier which always makes it juicy.
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In a much-anticipated first game of 2022, Melbourne kicked the first four goals and the Dogs the next eight, before Melbourne kicked the next six.
And that took us three-quarter time.
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It is insane football and even more so when two of the best coaches in the game – Simon Goodwin and Luke Beveridge – are in charge. If those two struggle to corral momentum then what chance do other, less credentialed coaches with less credentialed teams have of doing it?
These two teams were last year ranked No.1 (Dogs) and No.3 (Bulldogs) defensively, yet they were both opened horribly defensively. It’s too familiar with these two teams.
The Grand Final was one match back and the blinding difference between then and Wednesday night was that Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli, who elevated the Dogs in the GF in the third quarter, spent most of the third quarter on Wednesday having an ankle injury attended to.
That makes victory difficult.
The other blinding difference, of course, was the scoreboard. The Demons won by 26 points – 14.13 to 11.5 – whereas the GF result was 74 points.
After a first 10-minute blitz from Melbourne, the Dogs had Aaron Naughton put on the cape in the second quarter.
But then they were cape-less in third quarter, only for Bontempelli and Naughton to kick the first two goals of the final quarter.
Max Gawn stopped that momentum with a 50m-plus goal. There’s zero doubt he is an inspirational captain and one of Melbourne’s all-time greats.
The thing about momentum footy is that it’s quick, frighteningly quick.
The Demons played the first quarter as if the match was an extension of last year’s Grand Final. The ball whizzed around in what was “showtime footy”, a moniker bestowed on the razzle-dazzle LA Lakers in the 1980s.
The Dees kicked four goals in the first 10 minutes.
Then the game changed.
As always, pressure remains footy’s most precious commodity. It creates turnover and opportunity and momentum and anyone can do it.
In the first 10 minutes, Melbourne’s pressure factor was 180 and the Dogs’ 177 and they kicked 19-0.
From that point until halftime, Melbourne’s pressure was 170 to Bulldogs’ 195 and the Dogs kicked 51-23. In the same period, clearances were 18-12 to the Dogs and they outscored the Demons five goals to zero from stoppage.
After halftime, the Dogs’ pressure noticeably declined to 172 and the Demons were at the competition average of 181.
Typically of Melbourne, they hunted away from the contest, creating turnover pressure and converting them to scores.
Ed Langdon is going to be a wonderful topic of discussion this season.
He is a relentless runner on the wing and if last year and Wednesday night is an indication – he had 22 touches and 446m gained – he will be a discussion for an All-Australian spot. That’s if philosophies change and they just might with you new faces on the selection pane – Nathan Buckley, Kane Cornes and Brad Scott. Two of them are former coaches who appreciate the contribution of wingmen defensively and offensively.
The Gawn-Luke Jackson will be more destructive because Jackson will be a better player. It allows Gawn to play forward of the ball and he is a great contested mark, and dare we say it, a tremendous kick for goal from distance.
Christian Petracca had 20 disposals and a goal at halftime and finished with 38 and two goals. He has been compared to Dustin Martin and now it’s probably fair to ask: Can Dusty get to Petracca’s level?
That’s no disrespect to Dusty, for he probably is the best player this century, but that is a question in reference to last year then Wednesday night. Martin was injured last year and the footy world looks forward to seeing what he can do against Carlton on Thursday night. Right now, Petracca is the clubhouse leader.
He has set a lofty bar and surely it’s time opposition coaches don’t allow him to sit off the contest like he does and dominate. Steve May told Fox Footy after the game that when he saw on the scoreboard Petracca had 37 possessions, he asked Naughton: Why don’t you tag him?
May revealed Naughton said: “Nuh, we don’t tag.’’
Will every team have the same philosophy?
If yes, then Petracca is going to love footy this season.
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