Top medico questions Dees’ decision to let Christian Petracca continue to play after injury
Melbourne superstar Christian Petracca has come out in defence of the club’s doctors after they faced criticism for allowing him to return against Collingwood with what were later deemed “catastrophic” injuries.
Melbourne has come under fire for allowing superstar onballer Christian Petracca to play on with a lacerated spleen, punctured lung and four broken ribs in the King’s Birthday loss to Collingwood.
The brave midfielder is facing six weeks on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on Monday night to fix the injuries and stop the potentially life-threatening internal bleeding.
Petracca’s extended absence is a huge blow to the Demons’ finals hopes with the club falling four points outside the eight and desperately keen to sharpen its sloppy forward half operations.
North Melbourne dual premiership defender and respected analyst David King said it was a huge risk to send Petracca back out on the field for the entire second term on Monday after copping a knee to the back late in the first quarter.
King said on Fox Footy Petracca suffered “a fairly drastic injury” and questioned whether “the game took precedence over possibly the welfare” of the four-time All-Australian when the call was made to play on.
The club was adamant Petracca’s condition only worsened at half time when the call was made to substitute him out of the match and send him to Epworth hospital where he remained overnight.
A former AFL club doctor told this masthead it was a risk to allow a player to continue playing with suspected broken ribs considering the prospect of further damage to internal organs.
“When you fracture a rib the edge of those fractured ribs are as sharp as a knife and they can puncture the underlying structures,” the top medico said.
“When you puncture your spleen you can have a catastrophic haemorrhage and it needs to be treated immediately, as it was.
“We all know how tough Christian Petracca is and when he did it straight away I thought he had rib fractures because you don’t get that sort of pain from just bruising.
“But the concurrent injuries were quite phenomenal. You and I would be stretchered off (due to the pain), so it shows the toughness and resilience of the guy.
“But what they (medicos) must have thought was that he just had severe bruising because there would be no way you would put someone back out there with rib fractures.
“What you are often relying on is the declaration from the player about his symptoms to guide you about what the injury could be and if he said “It’s sore, but I’ll be right’ it could have altered the doctor’s opinion.”
Petracca hit back at those dismissed any criticisms of Melbourne’s medical staff.
“I’m responsible for putting myself out there by the way for people talking about the medicos,” Petracca commented on a Melbourne Instagram post.
Collingwood’s Mason Cox missed six weeks last year when he suffered a lacerated spleen which also initially flew under the radar when he received a bump in Round 2 of the club’s 2023 premiership campaign.
Melbourne said in a statement on Tuesday a return-to-play timeframe for Petracca would be established in coming weeks.
The club said his pain ramped up at the main change and was sent to hospital as a precaution after initially “assessing relatively well”.
“Scans taken at hospital revealed the extent of Petracca’s injury, with the midfielder sustaining broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and a small puncture within his lung,” the statement said.
“He underwent a procedure to stop the bleeding last night and remains in hospital for observation and recovery.”
Melbourne football boss Alan Richardson said the next few weeks were “crucial” in Petracca’s recovery.
“Obviously, Christian’s health is the number one priority for us at the moment. The next few weeks will be crucial, and we’ll be monitoring his progress closely to make sure he heals properly and fully,” Richardson said.
“As his recovery progresses, we will look towards a return to play timeline.
“He’s obviously an extremely important player for the team, but his health and recovery are our top priorities right now.”
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