The Demons won their first match at Docklands since 2007 - and their first NAB Cup match at the venue since 2006 - when they defeated the Magpies by nine points.
Although conscious of it being a NAB Cup match and not a home and away game, Petterd said that winning gave the players plenty of confidence for two key reasons.
“It helps a lot. Knowing it’s Collingwood - it helps a lot too,” he said.
“We talked about it during the week - the hoodoo we’ve got [at Etihad Stadium] and we just wanted to scrap that.
“We’ve got a new coaching group and a new start, and we just wanted to get out and just improve on last week - and we did that.”
Although Petterd acknowledged that Collingwood had several 2010 premiership players missing, he said it still had a clear jump on Melbourne.
“They’re obviously a really good side - they had nine premiership players [missing] and they can say that, but we had none,” Petterd said.
“We just went out with our two main focuses from Neeldy (Mark Neeld) and I think we did that.”
“[That was] just to stop them from playing on so much, because they are such an elite team at playing on and getting it inside 50.”
“We wanted to slow them up - also they’re a tough, rugged team and we needed to get underneath them in the midfield, especially in contested aerial stuff. We needed to improve on that from last week, and I think we did that.”
Petterd said that playing Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium this Saturday would be a strong test for the Dees.
“I don’t think we’d have it any other way, to be honest,” he said.
“To go into the season knowing that you’ve played one of the best teams in the competition - which they are - and to hold your own [is important].
“We had some of our main players out as well, so it probably evens up. But to play against some gun opposition early in the year is really beneficial for us.”
Petterd, who kicked 2.3 and had five inside 50s against Collingwood, said he was pleased with his effort, but was eager to build on it for the rest of the NAB Cup.
“I found a little bit of form back, but I still reckon I’ve got a bit of work to do, just working together in the new structure we’ve got,” he said.
“I copped a few hits early, but you just had to bounce back. I think a few of the boys copped a few hits as well, but they also bounced back, so that was good.”
Overall, Petterd said he was “feeling pretty good” at this stage of the year, after a grueling pre-season.
“At the end of this pre-season, you didn’t have a choice of whether you were going to be fit enough - it was simply, if you’ve done the work, you’ll be fit,” he said.
“All of the boys have done that and everything that Misso and Neeldy asked of us - we’ve done it. And we’re also recovering really well from games, which is a good sign.”
