Melbourne superstar Christian Petracca has suffered another brutal injury blow with the midfielder returning to hospital with appendicitis.
The latest internal injury comes after Petracca was ruled out for the season after copping a knee to the ribs in the King’s Birthday Clash against Collingwood where he suffered four broken ribs, a lacerated seen and a punctured lung.
Petracca spent time in the ICU after that injury and Dees assistant Andrew McQualter confirmed he’s set to undergo another surgery on Sunday to fix his latest issue.
“It’s really sad for ‘Trac’ and Bella, his partner,” McQualter told SEN Crunch Time.
“They’re going through a pretty tough time at the moment, it’s been a rough month.
“As far as we know it’s appendicitis. It’s really hard to know whether it’s connected to the injuries that he’s had but you would imagine it has to be at some point.
“But it’s a difficult time for those guys and we’ll just keep supporting them as best we can.”
The 28-year-old admitted that his initial injury was ‘pretty traumatic’ last month.
“The first few weeks were pretty traumatic, to be honest, I’m not going to lie … ICU, into a ward and then in and out of hospital,” Petracca said on Fox Footy.
“I got rushed back into hospital about a week ago early in the morning for a few check-ups. I woke up just with a few complaints and went straight to hospital.
“It’s been quite stressful, it’s something I’ve never experienced. My first year I did my ACL, and I was a bit young and naive and brash and didn’t understand the severity of the injury. Now, at 28, it’s a lot different.”
The Demons are currently taking on West Coast at the MCG. They entered the game 12th on the ladder with a win-loss record of 8-7.