Christian Petracca will miss Melbourne’s best and fairest on October 4 to attend a Red Bull training camp in Austria after his surgeon gave him the green light to increase his heart rate.

The club hierarchy has approved the star midfielder’s request to miss the award count and his teammates support the decision as he works his way back from a life-threatening injury on King’s Birthday. A club spokesperson confirmed permission had been granted.

The Demons supported the trip despite the unusual timing, believing Petracca deserved the opportunity to train after such a traumatic back half of the season spent recovering from surgery on a punctured lung and lacerated spleen. It will be the third time Petracca has attended the camp.

Petracca stated his commitment to the Demons last month after his dissatisfaction with the club became public, and his teammates admitted they were uncertain why he had taken a break in Noosa during the season to recover.

During a tumultuous post-season period, there was speculation Petracca wanted to be traded despite having five seasons left on his contract after he made it clear he was unhappy with the cultural issues the club had experienced since he became a premiership player in 2021, when he won the Norm Smith Medal in Melbourne’s drought-breaking premiership.

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However, he said he was determined to help the club return to finals contention and his absence from the club best and fairest is not an indication of any renewed dissatisfaction with the club, which replaced president Kate Roffey with former player Brad Green.

Petracca told the club’s website time overseas would be beneficial from a physical and mental perspective as he recovered from his injury.

“It’ll be awesome probably from a mental point of view, getting back to that confidence in myself and my body, ready to attack day one of pre-season,” he said.