Gold Coast Suns recruit Christian Petracca slams ‘Brand Petracca’ critics, as Wallabies great reveals retirement struggles

Christian Petracca is looking laid back on the Gold Coast, enjoying life away from the Melbourne spotlight that has hammered him hard for two seasons.

He quips that “Brand Petracca” was behind the push to leave the Demons that led to the Norm Smith Medal winner. He calls them “ridiculous,” but the Suns’ key player admits he’s impressed by those critics.

“Brand Petracca” was coined in reference to the champion midfielder’s off-field pursuits, including his OnTrac5 cooking channel, which has 554,000 Instagram followers, and his On Trac cookbook.

When he sought a swap away from Melbourne, which is between Adelaide and the Gold Coast, pundits predicted where his destination would best suit “Brand Petracca”.

But while Petracca enjoys being “the healthiest I’ve felt mentally in a long time,” he condemned his naysayers and stressed that athletes pursuing other ventures should be encouraged rather than torn to pieces.

“This whole ‘Brand Petracca’ frustrates me a little bit. I think, if anything, we should be promoting and celebrating the boys for doing something away from football,” Petracca said.

“The average career length as an AFL player is 4.5 years, so it’s really important for me to do something away from football. “I’ve found that cooking-related jobs have a direct correlation to my performance.

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“Some of the comments about me wanting to leave because of a cooking channel were ridiculous. I’ve always done my best with football and that’s always been my number one priority.”

Petracca’s performance will be crucial in the early rounds of the AFL season, with the Suns revealing star midfielder Matt Rowell will miss the opening exchanges after undergoing finger surgery.

But Petracca’s view of the temporary nature of career covers all the rules; the average NRL tenure hovers around 40 games.

Form, position competition and injuries are factors that inspired Petracca’s new Suns teammate Zeke Uwland to prepare.

While Uwland was selected second overall in November’s AFL draft, stress fractures in his back kept him out of action for six months last year.

The 18-year-old made a “bullish” prediction of his return but said he feared for a moment his body would limit his AFL ambitions.

“You have moments of doubt,” Uwland told this imprint.

“I wasn’t sure what the road would be like because I didn’t know the severity.”

Rather than wallow, Uwland pursued other passions; Encouraged by his family to have a “Plan B,” he earned initial degrees in law and business.

“I’ve always been a pretty hard-working person, I like to have an outlet away from football and argue over little indiscretions,” Uwland said.

“There is so much more to life than football. If you suffer an irreversible injury you never know when that moment will happen and I want to be prepared.

“It’s ideal for me when I don’t worry so much about football. You want to come out of the next challenge in the best shape possible, so the quicker I do that, the more prepared I will be.”

The biggest factor for athletes entering the retirement spiral (about 40 percent suffer from depression or anxiety) is a loss of identity when removed from routine-based, adrenaline-fueled team environments.

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Former Queensland Maroons player Christian Welch, who retired ahead of the 2025 NRL season due to injuries and concussions, has revealed he was overwhelmed when he was invited to the Melbourne Storm barracks by his former club.

“I told my girlfriend I had to go home. You’re really introverted and you really miss that,” Welch said.

“It was a really weird situation; they’re your best friends, but it’s a shame you couldn’t be on that journey with them, chasing that glory.”

Although Welch has an MBA, having studied at Brisbane, Stockholm, Berlin and Harvard, he admits that “you can have so many degrees and still feel a little lost.”.

Australian cricketer Jess Jonassen has already suffered the price of leaving elite sport and said losing his national contract after 13 years was a “huge shift and change in my life”.

Although he has degrees in forensic psychology and law and has not yet retired, he plans to pursue a career in the military, he said, adding, “I need something a little more high-octane, engaging, something that gets me out of bed.”

As Wallabies great Berrick Barnes confirmed: “I don’t care if you’ve got five degrees and a bloody job on the side; it’s still part of your identity.”

Barnes was first introduced to elite sport when he made his debut for the Brisbane Broncos at the age of 18, before switching to rugby.

He played 51 Tests on his debut at the age of 21 before retiring in 2020.

While he found purpose as the back row coach at the Saitama Wild Knights, he had a sad time when his playing days ended.

“Someone asks you: ‘Berrick, man, how’s it going? What are you doing? What are you doing by yourself?’ You used to be able to say you were still playing rugby,” Barnes said.

“What are you now? I’m a father, but I really don’t know. Of course it gets you down. I think everyone would be lying if they said they didn’t have a hard time.”

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“I’ve been lucky, rugby has been pretty good for me, but some players have to make that transition pretty quickly and that’s a tough thing.”

Barnes felt at peace trying to “duplicate” what she had until she found a group at Lennox Heads, a network of about 90 people involved in fitness and philanthropic initiatives.

“It’s about reaching out and asking for help. It’s not easy at all because as a football player you’re told to take it all on, to toughen up and show masculinity,” he said.

“It’s a shitty identity thing, but when you realize you’re a person doing the best you can, you don’t have to get caught up in that stuff. Then you’ll find your feet.”

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