‘Incredible bravery’: Demons star Christian Petracca speaks out to praise teammate Clayton Oliver

Christian Petracca sings the club song.Credit: Getty Images

Melbourne star Christian Petracca has praised the courage of Clayton Oliver in speaking up and stepping back from this weekend’s match after having a downturn in his mental health in the past week.

Oliver, who has battled both mental health issues and physical injuries in recent seasons, had played every game in 2025 but was left in Melbourne after having what the club called “a bad week”.

“I just want to give him a massive shoutout for his incredible bravery and vulnerability to be able to speak up and say he is not all right,” Petracca told Fox Footy.

“We put our arms around him. We’ve come a long way as men, and I think it is incredible that he has the ability to own it – admit he is not going well.

“He hasn’t spoken to us at all – we’ll speak to him throughout the week. As males, we can get ridiculed or shut down for expressing our frustration or emotion, but for him to do what he did was really good.”

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Oliver Wiltshire of the Cats is congratulated by teammates after kicking a goal.Credit: Getty Images

Cats coach Chris Scott has praised his side’s ability to take on the Magpies and get on the front foot, despite their pressure defence.

“Last week was frustrating – it wasn’t a bad loss, we had the chances to win, but we played much better tonight,” Scott said.

“I don’t accept that professionals need a big occasion to lift. I like to think it was a bit more practical, and we worked on some things during the week.”

Scott said the form of Patrick Dangerfield gave “optimistic feelings” about this season, but so did the form of lesser-known players like Connor O’Sullivan.

“Dangerfield is amazing with the way he is playing at the moment, but there are other things that leave us optimistic. Connor O’Sullivan, Mark O’Connor did some good things,” Scott said.

“They [the Magpies] do some things really well, and you have to take that away from them. We had young players take the game on, and we needed to do that.”

Nick Daicos of the Magpies is tackled by Oisin Mullin and Tom Atkins of the Cats.Credit: Getty Images

Magpies coach Craig McRae has praised his players’ response in the final term, despite losing on the siren.

McRae said his side did everything right to battle back into the game in the final minutes, and they can hold their heads high in how they took care of Jack Crisp after his post-siren shot missed the target.

“When he misses that kick, have a look at our response as a team. It’s a testament to the character and culture that we have. Straight away there was a group of players around him,” McRae said.

“I think we looked like winners, regardless of what the scoreboard said.”

McRae also wouldn’t blame the umpires, despite the Pies having some tough calls go against them.

“If I’m going to be a winner here, I’m not going to act like a loser,” McRae said.

“The decisions were the decisions. Bobby was probably a bit stiff, I saw the replay and saw it live, but he did fall to his knees.

“The Schultz one is a tough one as it is the rules. Do I like it? Not really, but it didn’t decide the game – we still had the ball in our hands after the siren to decide the game and I thought we had other chances.”

He also praised Patrick Dangerfield and revealed he may have accidentally fired up the Cats superstar.

“I stole his carpark before the game, and he wasn’t happy, so I blame myself,” McRae said.

“He is a battering ram. We had 15 or 20 missed tackles, and he was most of them. He is just an igniter right now.

“You need big players to stand up in big moments, and he was fantastic tonight.”

Christian Petracca sings the club song.Credit: Getty Images

Melbourne star Christian Petracca has praised the courage of Clayton Oliver in speaking up and stepping back from this weekend’s match after having a downturn in his mental health in the past week.

Oliver, who has battled both mental health issues and physical injuries in recent seasons, had played every game in 2025 but was left in Melbourne after having what the club called “a bad week”.

“I just want to give him a massive shoutout for his incredible bravery and vulnerability to be able to speak up and say he is not all right,” Petracca told Fox Footy.

“We put our arms around him. We’ve come a long way as men, and I think it is incredible that he has the ability to own it – admit he is not going well.

“He hasn’t spoken to us at all – we’ll speak to him throughout the week. As males, we can get ridiculed or shut down for expressing our frustration or emotion, but for him to do what he did was really good.”

Max Gawn has produced yet another rucking masterclass as Melbourne overcome a wasteful first half to post a 32-point AFL win over West Coast at Optus Stadium.

The Demons trailed by 12 points early in the third quarter of Saturday night’s match, but they kicked nine of the next 10 goals to secure the 16.12 (108) to 11.10 (76) in front of 41,991 fans.

Melbourne’s third win on the trot improved their record to 3-5, while West Coast (0-8) remain winless and on bottom of the table.

Gawn was the pivotal figure, racking up a career-high 35 disposals to go with 47 hitouts, nine clearances, 12 score involvements and a goal.

The 33-year-old also played match-winning roles in recent wins over Richmond and Fremantle, and he helped Melbourne win the clearance battle 48-26 and inside-50 count 59-43 against the Eagles.

Demons forward Jake Melksham could be in trouble for his body shove on Jeremy McGovern that catapulted the star Eagles defender into a marking contest.

McGovern slammed into the back of Harrison Petty after receiving the shove, leaving him stunned and feeling his jaw.

The premiership defender was subbed out at halftime, and his absence was heavily felt by West Coast as the Dees dominated in the second half.

Melbourne also subbed out Petty at halftime due to concussion, possibly from the same McGovern incident.

West Coast debutant Bo Allan also faces a nervous wait for his swinging arm to the head of Jack Viney as the Demons tagger took a mark.

Christian Petracca finished with 29 disposals, eight clearances and a goal for the Demons in the absence of Clayton Oliver (personal reasons), while tagger Viney (18 disposals, seven clearances) restricted Harley Reid to just 14 disposals and no clearances.

Eagles midfielder Tim Kelly finished with just 14 disposals and three clearances.

West Coast co-captain Oscar Allen did some nice things in an under-siege defence, while Jake Waterman and Elijah Hewett kicked three goals apiece.

The opening quarter was a horror show of errors as both sides butchered the ball at critical moments.

Melbourne were at least a force at the clearances - winning the first 10 of the match - with goals to Petracca and Bayley Fritsch giving them a 14-5 lead at quarter-time.

The Demons continued to dominate the clearances in the second term but their wayward return of 1.5 came back to haunt them.

West Coast didn’t score their first goal of the match until Jack Williams’ set-shot shank floated through at the 17-minute mark.

It sparked a run of four consecutive goals – including a spectacular banana from the pocket from former Demon Jayden Hunt – as the Eagles finally brought the crowd to life.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin was understandably frustrated that his team didn’t have the lead at half-time.

They would have grown after watching Jamie Cripps kick the opening goal of the third quarter.

But with McGovern no longer there to fend off Melbourne’s forays forward, the Demons finally cashed in on their clearance dominance, slamming through six goals for the term to take a 29-point lead into the final change.

Gawn, who had 0.7 to his name for the season up until that point, put the icing on the cake with a set shot goal in the final quarter.

Crisp leaves the field with his family after his record-breaking night.Credit: Getty Images

After an emotional end to an emotional week, Jack Crisp still fronted up post-game to speak to Fox Footy, despite missing what would have been the match-winning shot for goal.

Crisp admitted he was hurting but didn’t have his final kick right in his 245th consecutive AFL game.

“I was feeling pretty content in my ability to kick the goal at the end there, but it wasn’t to be,” Crisp told Fox Footy.

“But after an emotional week, feeling the love from everyone inside and outside football, it would have been good to get the win, but credit to Geelong.”

On his final kick for goal, Crisp said he was struggling after an exhausting game chasing Geelong’s wingmen like Ollie Dempsey.

“I had lots of blokes mention that this is what dreams are made of, we practice these scenarios and set shots so many times throughout the week,” Crisp told Fox Footy.

“I got the distance easy, but it was about the accuracy. I will go and recover now. We have a quick five-day turnaround into Freo.

“I was pretty gassed, to be fair. [The] Geelong wings love to run forward and back, and I was caught a few times with Ollie Dempsey.

“The ball fell in my lap, but it wasn’t to be.”

Crisp gave a special thank you to players on both sides, and his wife and children for their love post-game as almost every player from both sides made time to congratulate him.

“It meant a lot, [it] almost brought a tear to my eye,” Crisp said.

“It’s a special moment and having my wife and kids on the oval was special too.”

This long-range shot from Jack Crisp would have won the game for the Pies, but it sailed wide.Credit: AFL Photos

Milestone man Jack Crisp missed the potential game winner after the final siren as the Magpies had their six-game winning streak broken by Geelong in one of the games of the season on Saturday night.

Crisp, on the night he broke Jim Stynes’ record for most consecutive VFL/AFL games, had the game on his boot after marking about 50 metres out directly in front of goal just as the final siren sounded. But his left foot shot went right, the Cats hanging on for a stunning three-point win at the MCG.

“It was like a footy gods moment … fortunately for us, unfortunately for Collingwood, it was a pretty special match,” Cats skipper Patrick Dangerfield said.

Crisp leaves the field with his family after his record-breaking night.Credit: Getty Images

Dangerfield was brilliant, the Cats reaffirming why they are a legitimate premiership threat after the Magpies closed to within a straight kick with 20 seconds remaining in the game.

The Magpies eventually won the clearance, giving Crisp the ultimate moment in the spotlight before more than 82,000 fans.

Dangerfield was superb with 29 touches, including 13 and a long goal in the final term, to will his team across the line, while the hard-running Bailey Smith had 34, as the Cats produced arguably their best win of the season.

“Crisp, I thought he was going to have the fairytale ending. My heart was in my mouth. I was so scared,” Smith told Fox Footy.

The defeat was only the second of the season for the top-of-the-table Magpies. The Cats booted the opening three goals of the night, before the Magpies began to roll, and appeared to have the contest in hand when they led by 20 points early in the third term.

The Magpies dominated centre clearances and overall clearances at that point, but the Cats refused to fold.

The Magpies have been the best defensive team this season, and they strangled their opponents from late in the first term to midway through the third term. Their set-up behind the football, sometimes with two spare men, and ability to control the ball between the two arcs set the tone.

Nick Daicos was tagged by Irishman Oisin Mullin, who had the better of the Magpies star early, but Daicos worked his way into the contest, although there were moments of frustration. Daicos finished with 28 touches, including six clearances.

Smith was superb for the Cats. His run and carry were crucial, the Magpies with few answers for his creativity. Chris Scott started Max Holmes at half-back, but it was when he was sent into the midfield in the third term that the Cats started to move.

Dangerfield began forward, but was also sent into the midfield at a time when the Cats were hammered at stoppages. He helped ease the troubles there, the Cats winning contested ball in the third term. The veteran premiership great had some key moments, a tackle on Darcy Moore late in the third term leading to a crucial Shaun Mannagh goal.

In one of the great individual final terms, Dangerfield was everywhere, at one point his seven ground-ball gets being more than the Magpies had in total. The Cats, ultimately, reinforced why they are the best fourth-quarter team in the competition.

Steele Sidebottom of the Magpies and Mark Blicavs of the Cats compete for the ball.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

Cats ruckman Mark Blicavs almost went from hero to zero in the final seconds of tonight’s match.

With the Cats clinging to a four-point lead with 21 seconds left, Blicavs held the ball up twice after the centre bounce to waste precious seconds.

But the second time he was called for holding the ball and the Pies played on and sent the ball long to Jack Crisp who marked just before the siren.

His shot after the siren missed but Blicavs revealed he was considering drastic action if Crisp, who set a new record for consecutive games played, kicked the winning goal.

“I was on the far wing by myself thinking, ‘What a big mistake I’ve made and if he kicks it, I’m retiring’,” Blicavs joked to Fox Footy.

“That was my thoughts.

“But what Jack’s done is unbelievable, and he is an unbelievable kick but it was probably at that distance where he had to put a bit more effect into it, hence why he pulled it but if I wanted someone kicking for the game, it would be him.”

On the contentious goal-line call where Blicavs touched over a potential goal, he was adamant he got a hand to the ball.

“I touched it, but then I’m looking at the replay and it looked like I didn’t touch it,” Blicavs told Fox Footy.

“We were lucky that the umpire called touched going to the review so it went our way, but that could have been called inconclusive.

“I touched it, but it’s amazing how it can not look like it on those replays.”

Melbourne star Max Gawn.Credit: AFL Photos

Demons skipper Max Gawn said his side was still leaking too many goals late in the game, but he was happy to take a third-straight win.

Gawn had 35 disposals and 47 hitouts while staying in the ruck for much of the match after Harrison Petty had to come off.

“We leaked a few late, which was disappointing but that response in the third quarter – West Coast has been in every game this year until half-time, and we knew if we got them on the front foot, especially at centre bounce then we would be able to do well,” Gawn told Fox Footy.

“We were able to keep at it and in the last quarter we were able to kick a few.

“We dug ourselves a little hole at 0-5, so we can’t look past the next match and that’s Hawthorn. It’s not about stacking wins and losses but whether we can walk off proud of how we played and, for a lot of that game, we were pretty proud.”