Watch every match of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n It was the fourth time in Petracca\u2019s 213 AFL games that he registered 30 or more disposals and three-plus goals in a match, but notably was the highest-rated game of his entire career \u2014 even usurping his 2021 Grand Final effort which won him a Norm Smith Medal.<\/p>\n Petracca\u2019s exit from his old club Melbourne was a slow burn after unsuccessfully leaving in 2024, where a very serious injury during the King\u2019s Birthday clash that year saw him enter ICU for several days.<\/p>\n The following off-season, the four-time All-Australian departed the Demons to play under Damien Hardwick; one month after the three-time premiership coach took the Suns to their maiden AFL finals campaign after 15 years in the league.<\/p>\n And in his very first game under his new coach in new colours, the signs are ominous for the rest of the competition who sat back and watched the Suns\u2019 clinic against last year\u2019s losing grand finalists.<\/p>\n \u201cWe dream of that and do all the prep for that, but to come out and put in a three-and-a-half quarter (performance) was awesome; it was an amazing feeling,\u201d Petracca told Fox Footy post-match.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I play my best when my defensive contest (is good). All the other stuff and the offence will take care of itself, as long as I\u2019m around the ball hunting and putting that pressure on.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just super grateful to be at this footy club, and back playing what I love.\u201d<\/p>\n It was clear from the outset on Friday night that Hardwick had given Petracca a \u2018licence\u2019 to emphasise his impact in the forward half of the ground. The first two of his three goals came in just over a quarter of football at his new club, blitzing towards the big sticks in open play to finish off slick transitions from his teammates.<\/p>\n His new partner-in-crime that he shares the midfield-forward role with is Bailey Humphrey, who ironically met with Petracca\u2019s former club as he unsuccessfully tried to depart the Suns to move back to his home state of Victoria.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Humphrey himself was unstoppable in the opening term, kicking three first-quarter majors before finishing with a four-goal haul.<\/p>\n \u201cHumper\u2019s just such an incredible person. On the field, you see what he does; he\u2019s just so powerful and explosive, but off the field he\u2019s such an amazing human and one that I\u2019ve loved to connect with,\u201d Petracca continued.<\/p>\n \u201cHe reminds me of myself. He puts a lot of pressure on himself when it\u2019s only his fourth year, so it\u2019s pretty remarkable.<\/p>\n \u201cThat chemistry\u2019s awesome \u2026 there\u2019s a lot of guys; Touk (Miller), Noah (Anderson), (Matt) Rowell when he\u2019s back. It\u2019s great that we\u2019ve got a lot of depth in there, and we can obviously be versatile.\u201d<\/p>\n Much like Humphrey, Petracca\u2019s own kicking was pinpoint against the Cats. The skill has often been one he has received criticism for, but almost unsurprisingly given his ultra-professional personality, he revealed it is an area he continues to spend countless hours refining away from the spotlight.<\/p>\n \u201cI almost put in too much to be honest. I\u2019m out there on my day off, (but) there\u2019s no footy ovals out there, they\u2019re all rugby pitches!\u201d Petracca said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m out there kicking set shots every bloody day, so it\u2019s frustrating when they don\u2019t go in \u2026 but for me, I\u2019m not trying to blast the hell out of it, just being simple with it.<\/p>\n It was one heck of a club debut from the four-time All-Australian in his new coloiurs.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n \u201cI understand that it\u2019s probably a part of my game that isn\u2019t as strong as my other things, but I guess that\u2019s what wakes me up in the morning and tries to get me better every day.\u201d<\/p>\n While a superstar in his own right, it was hard at times on Friday night to not be infatuated by the likeness of his midfielder-forward role to Richmond legend Dustin Martin, who Hardwick coached to three flags at Punt Road.<\/p>\n \u201cHis experience coaching \u2018Dusty\u2019 (Dustin Martin) and winning those three flags is something that I\u2019ve taken a lot off in the last three months,\u201d Petracca ended by saying.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before I came here, I was playing that role at Melbourne. \u2018Goody\u2019 (Simon Goodwin) and the club allowed me to do that, which I\u2019m really grateful for and fortunate for too.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I\u2019ve always played as a midfielder or a forward, and the same as Bailey (Humphrey) as well \u2014 we kind of have a licence.\u201d<\/p>\n The Suns enjoy eight full days between the Opening Round and Round 1 matches, next taking on West Coast to close out next weekend\u2019s league fixture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There haven\u2019t been many better club debuts in recent memory than that of Christian Petracca on Friday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,25305,260527,19120,34709,260521,14385,260523,42266,260519,19099,39208,9123,667,260525,13659,2485,9130,260524,226450,260522,677,260520,701,1820,260528,85,260518,16679,260526,660],"class_list":{"0":"post-522682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-ball-hunting","15":"tag-bloody-day","16":"tag-christian-petracca","17":"tag-club-debut","18":"tag-colossal-debut","19":"tag-damien-hardwick","20":"tag-defensive-contest","21":"tag-dustin-martin","22":"tag-experience-coaching","23":"tag-finals-campaign","24":"tag-finals-contender","25":"tag-flag-contender","26":"tag-footy-club","27":"tag-footy-ovals","28":"tag-geelong-cats","29":"tag-gold-coast","30":"tag-gold-coast-suns","31":"tag-league-fixture","32":"tag-losing-grand-finalists","33":"tag-midfielder-forward-role","34":"tag-oceania","35":"tag-post-game-interview","36":"tag-queensland","37":"tag-score-involvements","38":"tag-slow-burn-exit","39":"tag-sports","40":"tag-three-plus-goals","41":"tag-three-time-premiership-coach","42":"tag-ultra-professional-personality","43":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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