MELBOURNE superstar Christian Petracca will make a long-awaited return on Sunday from the traumatic season-ending injury he suffered on King’s Birthday last year, while young star Caleb Windsor will also make the trip west for the AAMI Community Series as part of a near full-strength Demons outfit against Fremantle.
Petracca missed the final 10 games of last season after suffering a lacerated spleen, four broken ribs and a punctured lung in a collision with Collingwood captain Darcy Moore in June, which resulted in the midfielder losing 7.5kg and limiting him to minimal exercise for months.
But after a slow build across the off-season and pre-season, the 29-year-old is now ready to bank some match practice ahead of round one, after recovering from the cracked rib he sustained at training midway through January.
“He will play this weekend. He is raring to go,” Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin told AFL.com.au during a wide-ranging interview this week.
“He is in a really good spot. He is physically healthy, he is mentally engaged, he is a pivotal leader within our footy club. I’m looking forward to getting him back out there.”
Windsor has also been cleared to play in the practice match in Mandurah, one hour south of Perth, after overcoming the skin infection in his foot that stalled his second pre-season at the Demons.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn will get a game under his belt after recovering from the fractured larynx he sustained in January, while vice-captain Jack Viney is good to go after a recent rib cartilage injury.
On the eve of his ninth season as senior coach and eleventh at Melbourne, Goodwin has just dealt with the most tumultuous off-season of his career. Changes have been made at president and CEO level. The coaching panel has been revamped. The football program has been tweaked to be more accommodating.
Petracca has been a central figure since the Demons’ season ended in August. Despite having five years to run on his contract, the four-time All-Australian midfielder assessed his options ahead of the Trade Period. Since then, Goodwin and the club have focused on healing the wounds.
“The big thing for myself with Christian and the thing that hurt the most was he didn’t feel love,” Goodwin said inside the MCG on Thursday.
“Love is a big thing for anyone that has had adversity. I think of my hardest times and challenges and I’m sure yours, the thing that gets you through are the people around you. If he didn’t feel that, that’s what upsets me the most.
“The first thing was to acknowledge that we needed to do that better and we needed to show more love. That’s what this has been about. Having those vulnerable conversations, those honest conversations.”
Melbourne hasn’t won a final since the club ended a 57-year premiership drought at Optus Stadium in 2021. The Demons exited in straight sets in 2022 and 2023. Since then, they have selected four players in the first round of the Telstra AFL Draft. Windsor, who has been moved from a wing to half-back this summer, played 19 games in 2024, while Koltyn Tholstrup featured 10 times.
Now the Demons are set to expose two new faces in the not-too-distant future. Harvey Langford (pick No.6) and Xavier Lindsay (pick No.11) both impressed against North Melbourne at Arden Street last Saturday and are in the hunt for round one debuts against Greater Western Sydney on March 16.
“They are enormous talents, both of them, and they work incredibly hard. They are playing already and you can see them starting to play to a pretty high level,” Goodwin said.
“Like any young player, it won’t come without challenge. As the teams ramp up, it will be great to see how they grow with that. They are trending in the right direction.
“They are going to have wonderful careers, you can see that through their application and the way they play the game. They are going to be really strong players for Melbourne. With any young player, the challenges always come. It is how they work through those. We’re excited by them, but we don’t want to put too many expectations on them.”
Two-time All-Australian key defender Steven May is also set to play against the Dockers for the second time in a fortnight, after facing Justin Longmuir’s side while playing for the Indigenous All Stars earlier this month.
