I really need to lift my game, says Petracca

A CANDID Christian Petracca has conceded he is “not the player” he wants to be right now, but the explosive Melbourne forward has committed to becoming more consistent following a lean month.

The 22-year-old said he needed to turn his potential into more regular impact on game days.

While his form was solid in the early part of the season, his numbers have been down in recent weeks.

“I think I’ve got a fair bit of improvement to do,” Petracca said. “I’m not the player I want to be at the moment. I want to be someone who has an impact in every game. At the moment, I’m probably not doing that. All I want to focus on at the moment is just doing what Simon [Goodwin] tells me to do, playing my role as that halfforward by putting a lot of pressure on. That’s the stuff that probably doesn’t get recognised, but it does get recognised inside the four walls.”

After having 20 or more disposals in his first four games, Petracca has done it only three times in the eight games since. He has only scored more than one goal on one occasion this year — three kicked against Adelaide in Round 10.

“I feel like I started the season off all right,” he said. “My form in the last three or four weeks has been a bit down, but I’ve just got to get back to doing the basics well. I know that when I’m at the contest and when I’m around the ball, things happen.”