CHRISTIAN Petracca will miss Sunday’s clash against Essendon at Etihad Stadium due to an infected finger, sustained from a dog bite.

The incident occurred before last Tuesday’s Anzac Day Eve loss to Richmond at the MCG. But his finger has since become infected and he will spend the weekend in hospital, elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed.

“Christian’s got a laceration on his finger from a dog bite last week,” he told Melbourne Media.

“It was a reasonable size wound on his finger, but it was bandaged and taped for the game.

“But 24 hours post the game, it looked like it was becoming infected, so he went to see a doctor, and the doctor felt that he needed the wound to be cleaned out, which they did today (Thursday).

“But by today, that infection had gone into his bone and gone down to his finger joint – at the top of the finger.”

Misson said Petracca would be monitored over the next few days, but was set to miss just one week.

“The doctor felt it needed a decent wash-out in surgery, and the important thing is that the wound needs to stay open for three days to guarantee that that infection’s gone before they stitch it up,” he said.

“Unfortunately, those three days coincide with the game, and the doctor actually wants him to stay in hospital over the weekend, just to make sure that the infection’s gone.”