Christian Petracca will be like the first man on the moon on Friday night, taking what is a small step for the SUNS’ boom recruit but a giant leap for the AFL playing community.
It’s going to be “Neil Armstrong eat your heart out” at People First Stadium as Petracca joins a group comprising the elite of the elite in his first game for the SUNS against Geelong.
With 4,995 career possessions in a glittering 212-game career for Melbourne, the 30-year-old swingman is set to become just the 29th player in history to reach the statistical triple of 5,000 possessions, 200 goals and 130 Brownlow Medal votes.
Petracca will join a star-studded group of 28 AFL players who together have played 9,044 games, amassed 201,909 possessions, 10,3970 goals and 4880Brownlow Medal votes, and won 16 Brownlow Medals and nine Norm Smith Medals.
And in a statistic that underlines just what a wonderful player Petracca has been at Melbourne, he will be the fourth-quickest to this mark, behind only Dustin Martin, Nathan Buckley and Patrick Dangerfield and two games quicker than Gary Ablett Jnr and Marcus Bontempelli.
Listed in the order of their game count at the time they reached ‘the Petracca numbers’ of 5000 possessions, 200 goals and 130 votes, this exclusive-plus group is:
198 – Dustin Martin (Rich)
200 – Nathan Buckley (Bris/Coll)
212 – Patrick Dangerfield (Adel/Geel)
213 – Christian Petracca (Melb/GC)
215 – Gary Ablett Jnr (Geel/GC)
215 – Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
219 – Garry Wilson (Fitz)
220 – John Platten (Haw)
223 – Greg Williams (Geel/Syd/Carl)
225 – Leigh Matthews (Haw)
227 – Garry Hocking (Geel)
230 – Ben Cousins (WC/Rich)
232 – Chris Judd (WC/Carl)
236 – Michael Voss (Bris)
245 – Dane Swan (Coll)
253 – Robert Flower (Melb)
260 – Mark Riccuito (Adel)
260 – Shane Crawford (Haw)
261 – Brent Harvey (NM)
274 – Andrew McLeod (Adel)
284 – Luke Parker (Syd/NM)
290 – Adam Goodes (Syd)
304 – Nick Riewoldt (StK)
317 – Kevin Bartlett (Rich)
318 – Craig Bradley (Carl)
330 – Lance Franklin (Haw/Syd)
334 – Travis Boak (Port)
338 – Robert Harvey (StK)
396 – Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
Class of 2014
Petracca has been the standout product of the 2014 AFL draft after being taken at #2 behind Paddy McCartin. He is ranked #1 for Brownlow votes and All-Australian selections, #2 for possessions, #4 for goals and #6 for possessions.
His four All Australian blazers in 2020-21-22-23 heads Harris Andrews’ three for Brisbane and Isaac Heeney’s three for Sydney, and his Brownlow tally of 130 is well clear of Heeney’s 91, Jack Steele’s 90 for GWS and St Kilda (now Melbourne) and new teammate Touk Miller’s 74.
His career possession count of 4,995 is behind only Miller’s 5,064, and his 202 goals trails only Heeney (298), SUNS draftee Peter Wright (223) and Collingwood’s Jordan DeGoey (210).
And despite not playing in 2015 due to a February ACL injury, Petracca (212 games) ranks 6th for games behind Andrews (239), Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard (229), Heeney (224), SUNS draftee Adam Saad (216) and Miller (214).
Jumper #3
Having worn jumper #5 a club record 212 times for Melbourne, Petracca will become the sixth SUNS player to wear jumper #3 this year. He’ll follow Jared Brennan (54 games – 2011-12-13), Timmy Sumner (6 games – 2014-15), Matt Rosa (39 games – 2016-17-18), Jack Bowes (56 games – 2019-20-21-22) and Sam Flanders (59 games - 2023-24-25),
Club Championship Record
Petracca’s time in #5 at Melbourne was a special tribute to a previous Melbourne #5 after whom the Demons’ club championship is named – Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott. A 1939-40 premiership player and World War Two ace fighter pilot, he was killed in action in 1943 aged 26.
Petracca broke into the top 10 in the Demons’ B&F in 2017, finishing 7th, and, except for his injury-stricken 2024 campaign, was a regular in the top five. From 2019-23 he went 5th-1st-2nd-2nd-1st and last year he was 2nd again to captain Max Gawn.
Norm Smith Medal
One of Petracca’s proudest moments in football was the 2021 AFL grand final played at Optus Stadium, when the Demons thrashed the Western Bulldogs by 74 points to end a 57-year premiership drought.
Playing his 127th game at 25, Petracca had 39 possessions (24 contested), nine clearances, two goals and 15 score involvements to win the Norm Smith Medal. It was a landslide – he was rated best afield by all five judges. His 39 possessions equalled the AFL record set in 2003 by Brisbane’s Simon Black.
Career-Best
Petracca will have fond memories of the SUNS’ People First Stadium headquarters, having posted a career-high 40 possessions against the SUNS at ‘home’ in Round 2, 2022. Oddly, not until his 104th game did he post his first 30-possession game, but he had 32 in 2021-22-23 and has 35 in total.
‘Ironman’ Trac
After his devastating 12-month lay-off even before his first game Petracca became a veritable ironman. He played 44 consecutive game from debut, missed Round 6 2018 with a finger injury, and then played 145 games in a row – the 12th-longest run in history.
