Melbourne Demons superstar Christian Petracca has opened up about his “traumatic” season-ending injuries and a frightening revelation from his fiancee Bella about his time in hospital. Petracca’s AFL future has been hotly discussed for weeks, amid reports he wants out of Melbourne and is keen to join another Victorian team after becoming disillusioned with the Demons.

It’s understood part of Petracca’s frustrations with the club stem from the horror incident against Collingwood in June, when he suffered a lacerated spleen, punctured lung and four broken ribs Mooreafter copping an accidental knee from Magpies skipper Darcy. The brutal episode left Petracca struggling physically and mentally and he was granted leave by the club to travel with his fiancee Bella to Noosa.

However, Melbourne’s players were not initially aware of the extent of Petracca’s struggles and questioned why he was absent from the club, causing friction within the playing group. And according to new reports from The Age and SEN, Petracca’s presence at the club’s end-of-season function on Saturday night caused “tension” and left some Demons players feeling “noticeably uncomfortable”.

The Age’s Sam McClure reported that Petracca’s “falling out with the club appears to be beyond repair” and that he informed Melbourne about his desire to leave the club in an exit interview on Monday. Demons coach Simon Goodwin and the club’s powerbrokers have been steadfast in their insistence that Petracca will see out the remaining five years on his lucrative deal and that they have no intention of trading him.

While the 28-year-old is yet to publicly break his silence about his playing future, he has opened up about his time in hospital and revealed he had fears he “might not make it” through surgery on his injured spleen. Petracca appeared on a podcast that was released on Tuesday and didn’t address his Demons future but went into detail about a visit from his fiancee Bella in hospital, where she made a frightening admission to the 28-year-old.