Melbourne coach Steven King has mixed feelings about his team taking on a Gold Coast Suns side missing former Demons star Christian Petracca on Sunday at the MCG.
Petracca left the Demons at the end of last season after 11 years at the club to join the Suns.
The 30-year-old midfielder starred for Gold Coast in the club’s opening two games of the season before suffering a hamstring injury in his team’s 68-point win over Richmond on March 21.
It means Petracca will miss out on the chance to take on his ex-teammates this weekend.
“It’s pretty handy out for us (with) him not being there,” King admitted on Wednesday.
However, there is part of King that would have liked Petracca to have played on Sunday.
“For our supporters, even as a footy club, we would have loved to have got him back at the MCG, just to recognise everything he’s done for us as a footy club and the career he had with us,” the Demons mentor said.
“Even for some of our young players, it would have been a great opportunity to play against him, although they would have seen him up close at training.
“He was in career best form there (the Suns) for the first couple of weeks (of the season).
“You do want to play the best players and teams at their strongest.”
However, even without Petracca, the in-form Suns – one of only two teams still with a perfect record this season – will be a tough nut for Melbourne to crack.
“They’re on fire at the moment,” said King, who was in charge of the Suns for seven games in 2023 following Stuart Dew’s sacking.
“They’re playing great footy. You can see their system is well embedded, they’ve got great talent – they’re the benchmark of the competition at the moment.
“They’ve got a great system and are really well coached, and that’s three years in the making, but they’ve got elite talent, a great athletic profile – they’ve got strengths all over the ground.”
Those “strengths” include full-forward Ben King, whom the Melbourne coach described as being the most “efficient footballer in the country”.
“He’s unique athlete – 202cm and lightning quick. He’s in great form, so we’re going to have to make sure we get that match-up right,” Steven King said.
The Demons are chasing back-to-back wins after last Sunday’s 23-point victory over Carlton.
“I was really proud of the way the boys stood up when the game was on the line,” said King, whose side at one stage trailed the Blues by 43 points.
“We’re certainly going to have to start better (against the Suns).”
