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In 2014, AFL.com.au's Going Places series tracked four players through the year on their way to the draft. This week, we check in to see how each has handled his debut season.

LAST week a nagging thought ran through injured first-year Demon Christian Petracca's mind, and not for the first time. "Was it anything I did? Could I have done anything differently?" the 19-year-old asked himself.

"I thought about it for a while but I couldn't think of anything. It was just a freak accident."

A serious knee injury put Petracca – a genuinely exciting youngster – on the sidelines for all of his first AFL season. The ruptured ACL injury happened in mid-February, just when he was really starting to impress on the track.

Read the first reports of Petracca's knee injury

He was leading for a mark an hour into the session when he twisted his left knee. He felt like he had hyperextended it and was in pain for about 10 seconds, and when he tried to get up again teammate Dean Terlich, who heard a 'pop' as Petracca went down, told him to wait and keep still until trainers came over.

They soon did, but Petracca felt good enough to go for a jog before heading back to the AAMI Park scanning centre. He could tell by the looks on the physios' faces that they were worried. When he asked them if he had torn his ACL, nobody would say.

"I was frustrated. I said, 'Just tell me if I've done it or not'. We got the scan and it confirmed the ACL tear, and that I'd need a knee reconstruction. I cried for half an hour. I was bawling my eyes out," he said.

"Eventually I rang mum and dad and told them, but they didn't believe me."

It's easy to understand why. Petracca had never had a serious injury before, and never had any trouble with his knees. He's an explosive midfielder who bangs into people and busts through packs. If he gets knocked down, he simply gets back up. For the first time, he's dealing with a big injury.

Petracca walked into the Demons in late November last year as a prized recruit. After a stellar 2014 season, he had been hyped as the likely No. 1 pick for months.

Pre-draft, he spoke with a raw honesty; he's a brash kid who believes in himself and knows he has ability. But as the draft drew closer, St Kilda leant the way of forward Paddy McCartin, leaving Melbourne to select the burly on-baller with pick No. 2.

He realised his new teammates had "good and bad" pre-conceived ideas about him when he joined the club.

"A lot of the boys thought I was very confident and arrogant, and maybe with my personality didn't think I was willing to do the work," he said.

"They might have had a prejudgment about me before we'd met.   

"But once I started getting to know them I settled in really well. I'm really good mates with everyone, and they've gotten to know my personality, which is 'out there'."

Petracca's teammates felt for him at the time of the injury

His first day was a challenge. The night before, Petracca texted Melbourne midfielder Jack Viney to see what he thought the first-year players would be asked to do the next day. Viney suggested it would probably be introduction work, but the group was hit with 12km of running.

"After the session we had to rate it out of 10 – 10 being the worst thing we've ever done. (No. 3 pick) Angus [Brayshaw] wrote a 10, but then he said, 'Hang on, I've only done half of it, I'll give it a nine'. I gave it an eight or a nine. It was full-on," Petracca said. "But the more you do it, the better you get at it. I've dramatically improved my endurance."

Petracca looked likely to play in the Demons' NAB Challenge series, and would have been a strong contender to join Brayshaw as a round-one debutant had he not been injured.

The first five weeks of his rehab at the club were tough: he'd do a few exercises, then his teammates would walk into the physio rooms so he'd stop doing his program and go over for a chat.

Dave Misson, the Demons' high performance manager, told him he had to stay focused, and so he has, completing one thing at a time and sticking to a plan. He received some good advice on that front from Port Adelaide star Robbie Gray, who went through a similar recovery in 2012.

Going places: read Cal Twomey's piece on Petracca before the 2014 Draft

"Sometimes I'd do these little exercises and think, 'What is this actually doing for me? How is it helping?' When you do a calf raise, your calf burns. But when you're doing quad locks, all I felt was my knee hurting," he said.

"But the physios said they want me to be in an uncomfortable position, and the more I do it the more I get out of it.

"Robbie told me to think of short-term goals, and not to think of playing footy next year. He told me not to think four or five months down the track, but just to work out what I could accomplish every week.

Being ambitious and determined made that short-term approach difficult for Petracca. But he has felt the year fly, and it's six months since he had his knee reconstructed. Seven weeks ago he started running again, and with every session his confidence has grown.

He will head to the United States next month to work with renowned knee specialist Bill Knowles in Philadelphia. After that he hopes to be doing everything, apart from contact work, on the first day of Melbourne's pre-season in November.

Despite making progress, Petracca remains anxious about overdoing it. Every time he tries something new, he does it cautiously. "I think, 'Hang on, what happens if I do it again?' When I'm doing a running session I think about what would happen if I land on my knee awkwardly," he said.

"But my knee is so much stronger now and I need to look at the bigger picture. I've never done eight months of rehab on one leg, so that's a good thing."

He has found it hard watching Melbourne games, and even harder watching many of his draft class make their AFL debuts and establish their careers.

Brayshaw, whom he started developing a strong friendship with last year, has played every game for the Demons. Petracca wishes he could have enjoyed that type of start.

"For some reason, when I did my knee I thought I'd be jealous of 'Gussy'. But if anything, it's the complete opposite. I'm so proud of him. I'm so happy for the way he's playing," he said.

Watching friend and teammate Angus Brayshaw play has made Petracca proud. Picture: AFL Media

Before the draft, Petracca heard people question his resilience, and thought some clubs weren't sure how he would manage the pressures of AFL life. The knee injury has presented him a string of tests he never expected, but he thinks by the time he gets back on the field, he'll look back on the challenges as a good thing, an immense learning experience.

"I've never had a backwards step in any of my footy, or when I was playing basketball. I've always made it into teams," he said.

"Obviously it's upsetting. But maybe it's the best thing for me to take a step back, see how we want to play, and understand how I can improve as a player.

"It's funny how your mind changes. On the day I did my knee, people texted me and said, 'It's a good opportunity, and I was like, 'No, it's bullshit'. But it's so true, and I've learned how much you can push yourself and see the rewards at the end.

"I've handled it pretty well, but I just want to play. I'll take it one day at a time in the pre-season, and from there it will go quickly."