Melbourne star Christian Petracca made an early return to pre-season training on Friday, and was in excellent condition after recovering from season-ending surgery.

Petracca was in good spirits while running and completing ball work with teammates at Gosch’s Paddock. The Demons will leave next week for a camp in the Victorian country town of Bright, where Petracca was due to officially return to action.

Petracca’s presence was a point of joy for teammates, coaches and the small group of supporters on hand, who understand how important the 2021 Norm Smith medallist is to their premiership hopes in 2025.

His booming right-foot kick was on show, while his soft touch with ball in hand was evident.

The robust midfielder-forward endured a tumultuous 2024, in which he suffered four broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and a small puncture to his lung in an incident in the King’s Birthday game against Collingwood.

The subsequent surgery ruled him out for the rest of the season. The anguish and pain of what had happened, and fears his life was in danger, along with the Demons’ rapid demise since the 2021 premiership, prompted him to inform the club at his exit interview, and to teammates at an end-of-season function, that he wanted to play for a rival Victorian club in 2025.

However, that did not eventuate, and Petracca has happily returned to the Demons, who now have a new president, and are hunting a new chief executive.

Demons football boss Alan Richardson told this masthead this month that Petracca was recovering well, and had trained strongly at a pre-season camp at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre in Austria. This camp meant he missed the Demons’ best-and-fairest count.