- Christian Petracca was rushed to hospital on Monday.
- Melbourne star suffered serious rib injury
- Somehow he continued playing before succumbing.
Melbourne star Christian Petracca was rushed to hospital after succumbing to a serious rib injury during the King’s Birthday clash against Collingwood.
Petracca was kneed in the ribs by Collingwood captain Darcy Moore in a marking contest just before quarter-time of Monday’s game.
The explosive midfielder was face down on the MCG turf for several minutes, receiving medical assistance as the players headed to the quarter-time meetings.
‘He was in pain immediately and fell to the ground. “He finally got up and tried to get to the quarter-time meeting, but he was so uncomfortable that he had to break away from the quarter-time meeting and head inside the rooms,” Channel 7 commentator Cameron Ling said. from the limit.
‘There is a lot of pain there. You can see. Unpleasant. Unfortunately, when you see that kind of vision you have to suspect something like broken ribs.’
Christian Petracca suffered a serious rib injury during the King’s Birthday clash
He took a hit to the ribs at the end of the first term, but played remarkably
Petracca finally stood up, but looked in agony as he clutched the left side of his ribs and slowly rose from the ground and headed straight for the Demon chambers.
He had been one of Melbourne’s best players up to that point, with eight disposals.
Petracca noticeably returned in the second quarter and tried to fight back, but struggled to reach top speed and didn’t seem willing to kick the ball.
“This is extraordinary, he barely got off the ground at quarter time,” Tim Watson said.
“He did a couple of rehearsals and shook his head. I could only take that as “no, there is no pain.” “I don’t know, that would have to be very painful,” Ling added.
He added another five disposals, including four handballs, for the fourth, but never looked good.
‘As soon as he kicked that, he bent over in a lot of pain. She’s being very brave right now, but she doesn’t feel comfortable out there at all. I don’t know how much longer she can hold out,” Ling said.
Watson added: “So I’m seeing Petracca behind the work.” It’s moving very slowly. He is hunched over most of the time. Has a lot of pain.’
They finally replaced him and rushed him to the hospital for scans.
Petracca was replaced from the floor by Jack Billings just before the start of the third quarter.
The Demons will now nervously await confirmation of the severity of Petracca’s injury after he was taken to hospital for further assessment.
However, he has extra time to recover as the Demons will have a bye this weekend.
Petracca was sorely missed by Melbourne as Collingwood cruised to a convincing 38-point win.
