CHRISTIAN Petracca was in the spotlight heading into Round 7, but not for his work on the field.

The 23-year-old was involved in a strange swimming incident on Tuesday, passing out in the water during a regulation session.

“Two times a week I do a hypoxic session which is just increasing your lungs and your aerobic capacity,” Petracca told Melbourne Media post-game.

“I was under water and decided to go a bit too far and collapsed.

“Luckily Phil Merriman from the footy club jumped in and saved me.”

Although the mishap caused some concern externally, Petracca said there was never any doubt on his fitness for the Dees’ clash with Hawthorn.

“I was just a bit light headed throughout the day but [there were no worries] at all,” he said.

Petracca got up to play and was a part of Melbourne’s thrilling five-point victory over the Hawks on Saturday afternoon.

“It was a good win,” Petracca said.

“Melbourne brand, contested, defensive types style of play. Hawks are a good team, [but] it’s just one win. We’ve got to keep building and move on to Gold Coast next week.”

While the Demons were sitting bottom of the AFL ladder heading into this weekend, Petracca never lost faith in his side.

“We could’ve gone two ways. We could’ve stopped at one (win) and five (losses) and realised our season’s over,” he said.

“But we’re not like that at the footy club. We’re a team that just keeps going week by week and not worrying about positions on the ladder.

“So it was good to get another win but we’ve just got to move onto next week.”