Inside the mind of a superstar: How Petracca is chasing greatness

EVERY day, Christian Petracca visualises the future.

The Melbourne superstar is still just 26 years old and will only play his 150th game in Friday night’s qualifying final against Sydney, but already has the glittering CV that only few possess at the end of their careers. There’s the premiership, the Norm Smith Medal, the best and fairest, and a third straight All-Australian blazer that was tucked into the cabinet last Wednesday night.

But the best is still to come. Petracca’s thirst to improve himself is endless. He is motivated by the hunt for more silverware, primarily premiership medals, and the goal of being the best version of himself possible.

He attacked last summer, a summer that had followed Melbourne’s drought-breaking premiership victory and the best individual performance of Petracca’s career on Grand Final night, like no summer before. The taste of success was still vivid, but the desire to add another medallion to his collection was even greater.

Christian Petracca feels the heat during a Melbourne training session on December 6, 2021. Picture: Getty Images

He made more phone calls than ever before as well, buzzing champions of the game, commentators, ex-coaches and rival players around the competition, seeking pearls of wisdom in the hope of finding a unique and inventive way to build upon his game that hadn’t already come to him before. It was all done in the belief that he could better last year’s remarkable campaign, both from an individual and a team perspective.

As the Demons head into another expectation-filled finals campaign this weekend, fresh from a top-two finish and primed for a tilt at back-to-back flags, Petracca is once again peaking at the right time. The thought of what could lie ahead in the weeks to come continues to be visualised.

“Yeah, I do, 100 per cent I think about what the future looks like. It’s hard not to think about that. I think about it every day,” Petracca told AFL.com.au from the team’s AAMI Park headquarters.

“I feel like I’ve still got other levels to go to, I still feel like I’m a little bit inconsistent within games, I still feel like my goalkicking and little things like that can increase my game by two or three per cent. But that motivates me. I think that’s awesome. When you’re at the top of your game and you understand your weaknesses and understand what you can improve on, I think that’s awesome.

“I’m 26, I’ve just signed a seven-year deal and I’ve still got seven years left of that. So, for me, I don’t look at that as a scary thing. I look at that and feel like I can do a lot more damage than what I have already.”

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The hype and expectation that has surrounded Petracca since his scintillating 2014 draft year reached its climax last September, when Melbourne’s No.5 pieced together a remarkable finals campaign that helped the Demons end 57 years of hurt and claim that elusive premiership.

Having already exploded throughout an excellent home and away season, Petracca then had 30 disposals and two goals in a qualifying final win over Brisbane and followed it with 32 disposals and a goal against Geelong in a preliminary final victory. But he had been saving his best until last.

His display on Grand Final night against the Western Bulldogs, which featured 39 disposals, 24 contested possessions, two goals, two goal assists, nine clearances, 15 score involvements, 11 inside 50s and eight intercepts, was the performance of a lifetime. He was unanimously voted the Norm Smith Medal winner.

“I mean, I probably haven’t played a better game in my life to be honest,” Petracca said.

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But all that performance did was raise the bar even further for Melbourne’s exceptionally talented midfielder. New expectations were set heading into last summer, which inspired a 2022 campaign that Petracca feels is his best yet.

“I do set myself high expectations at the start of every season, but I’m a pretty motivated person and I’m pretty competitive as well. For me, I’ll try and achieve as much as I can throughout the year,” he said.

“I feel like my consistency throughout this season has been better than last year, to be honest. I feel like I’m in games for a lot longer and my midfield time has gone forward, which I’m really happy with.

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“There are games where I feel like I can play at that level and there are games where I might be tagged or the game just doesn’t feel that way for me. Sometimes it’s frustrating, but that’s the beauty of sport. That’s just the way footy goes and the way sport is. You’ve got to adapt through that.”

One area that Petracca has targeted to improve upon this season is in front of goal. He has kicked 19 majors, a commendable tally for a pure midfielder, but they’ve come from 63 total shots. He’s also kicked only four set-shot goals for the entire year. Although, for the always competitive Demon, there are of course mitigating circumstances.

“It’s the most f***ing frustrating thing ever,” Petracca laughed.

Christian Petracca kicks for goal during the R16 clash between Melbourne and Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on July 2, 2022. Picture: AFL Photos

“It’s the most frustrating thing in the world. I put so much time into it and it’s funny, because my mates and my brothers take the piss out of me all the time about it. They say, ‘you can’t kick for sh*t’. Which is fair enough. But I find I get a lot of my set-shots 45m out on the angle, so my accuracy doesn’t actually reflect my goalkicking.

“I am working on it hard, every day. I’m visualising a lot of stuff on it. I spoke to external people who are legends of the game about it and it’s all a mindset thing. It’s literally a mindset thing. There is nothing else around it.

“But that’s something that can take my game to another level. I’ve kicked 19 goals this year, but I could’ve kicked 25 or 30. It’s just one of the parts of my game that I need to relax on. I feel like I’m quite explosive and powerful, but with that type of stuff you just need to be calm and allow yourself to have a few more steps when you’re kicking for goal.”

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For someone as enthusiastic and eager to learn and grow as Petracca, the high of landing at Melbourne with pick No.2 in his draft year was followed by the immediate low of a torn ACL just months into his career with the Demons.

It proved a steep learning curve, but one that he feels was necessary to develop the professionalism involved with being an AFL superstar. He’s missed just six games in the seven years since returning from that early setback, not missing a match since the 2018 season, and will play his 150th game during the side’s qualifying final against Sydney on Friday night.

“I have such belief and confidence in my own ability. But, at the time, I was probably s****ing myself. Being an 18-year-old kid who came into the League with high expectations internally and externally, it was quite tough to do my ACL,” Petracca said.

Christian Petracca tests out his knee during a training session in November 2015. Picture: AFL Photos

“But, for me, it’s probably been down to the work I’ve put into myself and that’s probably more off the field than on the field. I’ve matured a lot as a person, I’ve developed a lot, and that’s probably resonating into my footy and the way I play on the field.

“I feel like my first few years were probably me realising the expectations of being a professional 24/7 and understanding what it actually takes. The last three or four years, I’ve really understood that if you don’t do the work, or if you don’t put in, or if you don’t love the game, then the game won’t give you anything back. I’ve realised over the last few years that the more you give, the more you’re going to get.”

Petracca’s initial breakout season came in 2020, a year where he was crowned All-Australian for the first time and won his maiden Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott Memorial Trophy as Melbourne’s best and fairest. But that campaign wasn’t a bolt from the blue. It was the result of gradual improvement over a number of years.

Having faced internal doubts and external criticism early in his career, particularly when he was used either as a high half-forward or often as a stay-at-home full-forward, Petracca struggled with the question of whether to be patient or whether to demand excellence. He chose the latter, and hasn’t looked back.

“I’m not going to sit here and say I had the belief every day. As a sportsperson, you doubt yourself so much. That’s the highs and lows of footy or sport in general. There are days when you feel great and there are days when you feel terrible. There are days when you doubt yourself and you don’t want to go to work,” Petracca said.

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“The years I had where I felt I wasn’t being a great footballer, not being Christian Petracca and the best version of myself, I look back on those days and realise why I play footy. Those days when there was a lot of pressure, I felt it externally but internally it was a lot more that I put on myself. How come I’m not being the player I want to be? All of that stuff.

“Try telling a 19-year-old that you need to be patient and relax. Yes, there was an element of being patient. But there was also an element of saying ‘stuff this … I want to go and get this now’. I think that was in my 2019 year. I felt I was ready to be the Christian Petracca that I knew I could become.”

Petracca’s burning desire for greatness means that his favourite accolade will always be the next one. This year, that comes in the form of winning another premiership – and maybe another Norm Smith Medal – on his home turf in front of family, friends, and the wider Melbourne supporter base at the MCG.

“I’m doing it for them and doing it for the people that missed out,” Petracca said.

“Doing the lap of honour around Perth, you’re doing it with people you don’t know. At the MCG, you want to be doing those things and going out with those people, my partner and my family and friends. You want to putting the medal around their necks and letting them hold the premiership cup. That’s the stuff that I want to be part of this year.”

Christian Petracca holds the 2021 AFL Premiership Cup aloft on stage at Forrest Place in Perth on September 26, 2021.