WITH the New Year here, melbournefc.com.au takes a look at each player’s key stats entering 2016, as coach Paul Roos provides a pre-season update on every squad member. Be sure to check back each day on melbournefc.com.au, as we present all 45 players in the first half of January …
CHRISTIAN PETRACCA – No.5
Date of birth: 4/1/1996 (20 years old)
Height: 186cm, Weight: 94kg
AFL debut: yet to debut
AFL games: 0, AFL goals: 0
Position: Midfielder/forward
Recruited: Beverley Hills (VIC)/Eastern Ranges (VIC)
Drafted: 2014 NAB AFL Draft (No. 2)
“There is the normal rehab process that Christian continues to do, after missing last season with an ACL. He went over to America in the off-season and did exceptionally well. His body looks good and his leg looks good, but we’ll just make sure that there is no pressure on him. When he’s ready to play – that’s when he’ll be ready to play. Hopefully, in some shape or form, the year off has done his body some good. He’s been able to develop and AFL body, develop into an AFL player and develop some AFL habits. His running has also improved a lot, which it needed to, but it’s definitely improved.” – Paul Roos (pre-Christmas comments)
Please note Petracca suffered an injured toe during the Christmas/New Year break. Here is Roos' comments following the injury: "Christian’s rehab up until this point has been going really well, but when you’re an AFL player, you need to understand that everything you do impacts your ability to prepare and contribute to the team and this incident is clearly an interruption. We have been very clear as a club about not putting expectations on our first year players, so its important to keep some perspective about this - It’s a harsh lesson for Christian, but one we are sure he is going to learn from as he develops as an AFL player.”
CHRISTIAN SALEM – No.3
Date of birth: 15/7/1995 (20 years old)
Height: 183cm, Weight: 82kg
AFL debut: 2014
AFL games: 22, AFL goals: 7
Position: Half-back/midfielder
Recruited: Hampton Rovers (VIC)/Sandringham Dragons (Vic)
Drafted: 2013 NAB AFL Draft (No.9)
“Christian had an injury-interrupted season in 2015, but we saw what a really good player he was. Once again, his pre-season is about the consistency of being on the track and making sure he does everything right. The signs have been really good and he’s training well, so he just needs to continue his consistency early in 2016. We think he’s going to be a very good player for us.” – Paul Roos
JOEL SMITH – No.44 (rookie – category B)
Date of birth: 25/2/1996 (19 years old)
Height: 191cm, Weight: 85kg
AFL debut: yet to debut
AFL games: 0, AFL goals: 0
Position: Forward
Recruited: Maribrynong Park (Vic)/Three-year unregistered player
Drafted: 2015/16 Rookie Draft (No.41)
“Joel’s assimilated really well. You can see that he’s played footy before and that’s been a bonus. He’s not the type of guy who sometimes comes into a club, like an American, who hasn’t played the game before. You can see that he has played and that he has got some good habits from basketball. He’s got really good awareness and he’s a really good listener – I really like that about Joel. He’s a good athlete and he’s training pretty well.” – Paul Roos
