CHRISTIAN Petracca may not have played a match in his first season with the club, due to a season-ending knee injury, but teammate Bernie Vince says the exciting youngster has already impressed all at the club with his endearing qualities.  

Although Petracca was one of the most sought after players in last year’s NAB AFL Draft – he was selected by Melbourne at No.2 – Vince said the 19-year-old had made his impact with his strong work in rehab and his upbeat personality. 

“He’s one of those kids that you can’t help but love,” the 2015 best and fairest winner told Dee TV with a smile.

“He says all the dumb things and asks all the questions that people were probably thinking, but didn’t want to take the risk in asking, because it sounds dumb. He helps everyone out by doing it. His demeanour around the footy club – he’s always energetic.

“For a guy who could’ve easily gone into his shell, after the bad news of getting that injury, he’s kept upbeat and he certainly keeps us old fellas young by the way he carries on. It does get annoying at times, but you certainly take the good with the bad.”

Although Petracca looms as one of Melbourne’s most exciting prospects, Vince said he didn’t want to place any expectation on his upcoming AFL debut next year.

 “It’s pretty hard to say at this stage, because he hasn’t played at the level yet. It was super exciting to get him in the draft at No.2 and his training form before he went down was getting pretty special,” he said.

“I was actually out with my shoulder for the start of pre-season, so I was doing some running on the side and I just managed to catch a few glimpses of him doing some pretty special things.

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on, but I think he can really come in and play a good role for us next year. Guys like that, you want in your footy team. I’m sure he’s going to be a long-term player at this footy club.”

For the record, Petracca was the only one of Melbourne’s 11 new players in 2015 that didn’t play their first game for the club or make their AFL debut. Yet such was his early training form, he was on track to play in round one this year.

Petracca will be an added bonus to Melbourne’s squad in 2016.