WITH the sun shining in Maroochydore, Melbourne’s pre-season camp ramped up on Wednesday morning as the boys completed their first main training session of the trip.
It was a testing run for the group who sweated it out in tough conditions, but a fighting fit Christian Petracca thoroughly enjoyed the grind.
“It was a great session,” he told Melbourne Media.
“The heat is obviously different to Melbourne weather but … it was our first session and all the boys got around it.
“Communication was at a high level and I thought the energy was awesome for a first session.”
Melbourne has headed North on its pre-season camp for five consecutive years now, and the players can feel the direct benefits of working in the heat.
“Definitely when you get into those full ground drills, when you’re running a bit more – especially when now we’re getting into more match simulation type stuff,” Petracca said.
“I guess when you’re doing those types of drills you’re obviously running a lot more so you definitely feel [the heat] a lot more.”
Petracca had a notable impact on Day 2 of the camp, moving as quickly as anyone through the centre of the ground.
The 24-year-old appears ready to take his game up a notch in 2020, crediting a couple of big trips for his transformation.
“I had a really good off-season,” he said.
“I went to America with Salo (Christian Salem) and Europe with Clarry (Clayton Oliver) and just pretty much trained all day.
“It was a really good learning curve for me.
“I thought my backend of last year I matured a lot, so I felt like I’ve definitely fast forward as a person over the off-season and I’m feeling pretty good.”
While Petracca has come a long way in the past 12 months, his teammates appear equally as prepped for the season ahead.
“In team aspect I feel like we’re in a lot better position [than this time last year],” he said.
“I feel like we’ve got a lot more guys on the track – not many injuries.
“We’re able to do a lot more full-ground drills able to play 17 v 17 instead of 10 v 10 probably last year.
“We’re able to do a lot more of our actual game structure and the way we want to play and move the ball for [the Marsh Cup] and Round 1.
“And individually I feel like obviously I didn’t have surgery this year, so having that knee surgery last year probably back dated my pre-season, but I’m feeling really fit at the moment.”
After playing his first 85 games predominantly as a forward, Petracca looks ready to push into the midfield for the Dees, but he’s not thinking that far ahead.
“Obviously last year was a disappointing year, I just want to win to be honest,” he said.
“As long as we get wins on the board I don’t really care where I play.”
