Drew Petrie Biography

For Drew Petrie, the Eagles' elimination final win at Adelaide Oval against Port Adelaide allowed for the important exorcising of ghosts that threatened to haunt his days as a past player.

Exactly a year ago Petrie had finished his last game for North Melbourne with the Kangaroos' finals hopes shattered at the hands of Adelaide at the same venue.

"Last year, I didn't have too many good memories over here," Petrie said.

"We got flogged, which was a really disappointing way to finish for North, so I had memories of that.

"I felt like preparing this time around, knowing I was going to finish if we lost, I'd accepted it a lot better.

"I think last year I had a lot of emotion and I tried to hide that, but it got to me in the last couple of games.

"This year, I've just enjoyed it. There's still a lot of hard work ahead and the belief in the group was really good going into the game, which is what we saw with the start we had."

Drew Petrie confirms his intention to retire at the end of the 2017 after helping the Eagles sneak into the finals with a 29-point win over Adelaide at Subiaco Oval where he was chaired off after the game.

"I think he's been really embraced by our supporters and members and I think they know him for who he is as a person as well – to do that in 12 months is a credit to him and his family," West Coast coach Adam Simpson said of Petrie.

West Coast is open to the prospect of former Kangaroo Drew Petrie playing on in 2018, however no decision on his future is expected to be made until late in the season.

"All those things are up in the air and it really just depends on how the next three or four weeks pan out and what their ruck stocks look like for next year," Petrie's manager Shane Casley said.

"We'll wait until I get back [and then we will have] better idea about how he is feeling and then the club will probably have a better idea as to what their list will look like next year as well."

West Coast recruits Drew Petrie and Nathan Vardy have formed an unexpected partnership for the Eagles in 2017.

"It's probably not the combination we expected to be doing the rucking duties, but it's how the cards have fallen," Petrie said.

After managing just 25 games in seven seasons at the Cattery, Vardy has remarkably played every match in his first year at the Eagles.

"I spoke to Vards early on when we both arrived here and he said he hadn't managed to play a game of football within the first six weeks of any season of his career," Petrie said.

"For him to play every game is awesome, and his belief and confidence would be pretty high at the moment."

West Coast confirms that Drew Petrie will miss about 10 weeks of after breaking several bones in his left hand in the early stages of the Eagles' match against North Melbourne.

Drew Petrie could be sidelined until mid-season in another long-term blow to West Coast's injury-ravaged ruck stocks.

The veteran recruit will consult a surgeon after breaking his hand in the opening minutes of his Eagles debut against former side North Melbourne.

"It's not great," coach Adam Simpson told Channel Seven.

"I haven't quite got the full results back yet, but at the early stages (it looks like he'll be out for) six-to-10 weeks."

Drew Petrie fractures his hand in West Coast's 43-point win over North Melbourne.

Eagles coach Adam Simpson said it was "a tremendous effort" for Petrie to play out the game against his former club after he sustained the injury in the opening minutes.

"He got clearance to come back on, but he couldn't use it," Simpson said.

"It's a fracture and he'll miss several weeks.

"To do what he did and to hold up his end of the bargain was so important.

"He's a very passionate man, Drew, and the type of guy you'd like to go to war with. I'm just really proud of him."

Drew Petrie says he has mixed emotions about facing his former side North Melbourne as a West Coast Eagle player.

"I think the first time I'll feel any kind of weirdness is when we're warming up on end of the ground and North are up the other end warming up and I glance over to see the boys out there," Petrie said.

"So that's when it will certainly hit home … but for the moment – I don't know if I'm trying to fend off any feeling or emotion – but at the moment I'm feeling OK."

Former North Melbourne champion Drew Petrie is set for an emotion-charged return to face his old teammates when he makes his West Coast debut in the club's 2017 season opener.

Winged West Coast ruckmen Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett have been placed on the long-term injury list, paving the way for rookie-listed big man Drew Petrie to face former club North Melbourne.

West Coast coach Adam Simpson says veteran recruit Drew Petrie has been a standout at pre-season training.

"When you watch Drew for the first time you think that, but that's how he's trained for 15 years," Simpson said of Petrie.

"He very rarely misses training, very rarely misses playing. Whether we can get him back to his glory-day form will be another question, but he's done everything right so far."

Eagles midfield coach Dean Cox says Drew Petrie should slot easily into a ruck role despite having played predominantly for most of his career.

"He has a lot ingrained, he has a lot of PPK (personal practical knowledge) – or knowledge – about how to ruck because he's done it for the early part of his career," Cox said.

"For Drew, since he's been here he's completed all the sessions, he's competed really well, and now it's about trying to work on some technique stuff and a lot of that stuff he has ingrained already."

Drew Petrie admits 2016 wasn't his best year, but the West Coast rookie recruit is adamant he still has more to offer at his new club.

"I still think I've got enough to give, enough to offer another footy club and I'm really excited that the West Coast Eagles read my name out," Petrie said.

"Last year wasn't my best year, but the previous five years leading into the 2016 season have been really consistent and really solid.

"My body's been sound, I've played every game, trained every session, so I've got a hardened, resilient body capable, I feel, to go into my 17th season of footy."

West Coast select Drew Petrie with pick No.29 in the 2016 Rookie Draft.

Drew Petrie wants to play at West Coast in 2017, but the Eagles are yet to decide whether they want to bring him to the club.

"West Coast has made it pretty clear that Drewy's one of three or four they are looking at, so they haven't committed to Drewy and we haven't committed to them," Petrie's manager Shane Casley said.

"But there's certainly been some dialogue."

Drew Petrie has confirmed his interest in a move to West Coast, but he doesn't expect to know his future for another few weeks.

The Eagles are considering Petrie as a replacement for injured ruckman Nic Naitanui, who will miss at least the majority of the 2017 season after surgery on a ruptured ACL.

"They haven't given me any guarantees," Petrie told Melbourne radio station SEN.

"They've scoped out my level of interest, and I think they've got a few other players that they've got their eye on.

"I think it's going to be a few weeks before they give me any guarantees or certainties, but I'm feeling OK at the moment."

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says he regrets announcing during the season that veterans Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo would not be offered contracts for 2017 by the club.

Scott said he stuck by his promise to inform the quartet as soon as possible, but acknowledged he would have waited until the Kangaroos' season had ended before making a public announcement.

"We were very disappointed that it was messaged the way it was but in terms of the players themselves, 'Boomer' [Harvey] in particular, he doesn't feel disrespected in any way, shape or form," Scott said.

"If I had my time again, I still would've told him because I gave him that commitment that I'd tell him, but I probably would've said, 'Mate, it's not the time now to announce it ? You know so you've got some clarity around the situation but for the club's sake, we need to announce this post-season'.

"No doubt the messaging to the members didn't go as we would've liked but in terms of the relationship with the players involved and the honesty and integrity that was shown, I have absolutely no issue with that."

North Melbourne champion Brent Harvey made an emotional farewell after bringing his illustrious 432-game career at the Kangaroos to a close.

The AFL/VFL games record-holder picked up 25 possessions in his club's 62-point elimination final loss to Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

Both clubs formed a tunnel to honour Harvey along with fellow departing veterans Drew Petrie, Nick Dal Santo and Michael Firrito as they left the ground, while Harvey also gave a thumbs up to the Kangaroos supporters.

Drew Petrie admits to being "mentally drained" in the last round of the season but is adamant he can fire up for the finals.

Petrie, who had just three kicks against the Giants, says that the news of his delisting from North Melbourne had impacted his performance.

"The happenings of the week maybe all dawned on me in that game ... I just felt a bit mentally drained by the end of the third quarter," Petrie said.

"Maybe it would have been better if I was a blabbering mess on Wednesday or Thursday, got that out of my system."

Drew Petrie says he is still coming to terms with the reality this will be his final season at North Melbourne, but the forward has called for angry fans to stop venting at coach Brad Scott for culling four veteran Roos.

"It's all happened really quickly. I don't think the full magnitude of this being my last season has hit me yet," Petrie said.

"There hasn't been any tears roll down my cheek yet, but maybe when I walk off the ground for the last time that might occur.

"(The conversation with Scott) went fine. It really did. It was a surprise, when the words come out of the coach's mouth, it's a bit of a surreal moment where you don't really absorb it until you walk away and leave the club and go home.

"I told my wife, told my family and that's when then it starts to sink in a bit more.

"But the conversation was that, it was a conversation, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle or wasn't prepared for.

"The club's been really respectful the way they've treated me over 16 seasons, I've had a really good run at it."

North Melbourne has dropped a bombshell by announcing veterans Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo will not be offered new contracts for 2017.

The news comes with one round left in the home and away season and with the Roos' finals campaign still to play out.

"The club is indebted to these four individuals for their professionalism, leadership, attitude and competitiveness," a statement from the club read.

North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey has backed the Kangaroos' controversial decision to not offer veteran quartet Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo contracts for 2017.

"I know it's sad but unfortunately the club is bigger than any one individual," Carey said.

"Clearly they have not come to this decision lightly. [North Melbourne coach] Brad Scott and others that have sat down and have made it for the benefit of the club for the next 15 or 20 years going forward."

North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw says future considerations dictated the club's need to cull their veteran quartet that included Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo.

"I think we needed a pretty aggressive reset to give our club the best chance of playing in and winning its fifth premiership," Brayshaw said.

"I think we need to get back to the draft, we need to get some really good quality kids into the place.

"We've got some already, but we need to add to that and we would be looking in this next five-year period to have a very strong on-field performance with sustained on-field success."

Kangaroos great Wayne Carey says Drew Petrie will not be offered a new contract unless he can quickly turn his form around.

Petrie was kept goalless for the second straight week against Port Adelaide – the fifth time this season.

The 33-year-old ended the clash against the Power with two behinds after missing crucial set shots in the third quarter by a considerable margin.

"I think definitely Drew Petrie won't go on. I wouldn't have thought so off the back of this year," Carey said.

"Clearly he's got six games to prove everyone wrong, and also hopefully a couple of finals, but right now you'd be saying he definitely won't be going on."

Drew Petrie says he wants to play on next year, but knows he'll have to prove himself in the remaining part of this season.

Petrie has appeared in all 14 games this year but has only kicked 19 goals – on track for his lowest full-season total since 2009 – and is averaging just 4.6 marks.

"Last I year took the most marks I have in any season (168 at seven per game), so I was hoping to be able to beat that again," Petrie said.

"But at the moment those numbers aren't looking too well.

"I'm aware of how I'm going and I'm looking forward to the next eight weeks and setting some goals in place to make sure that I can contribute a little bit more than what I have in the first half of the season."

Andrew Swallow will continue as North Melbourne captain in 2016.

Jack Ziebell will become the club's sole vice-captain after sharing the role with veteran spearhead Drew Petrie for the past four seasons.

Shaun Higgins will also come into the Roos' leadership group in 2016, joining existing members Swallow, Ziebell, Jamie Macmillan and Scott Thompson.

Petrie and fellow veteran Nick Dal Santo exit the club's official leadership team but will have mentoring roles this year.

"The players have probably been the loudest voice in this and in the end it was fairly clear, but that doesn't mean it was easy," North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said.

"While we know Jack has got terrific leadership qualities, this process meant that Andrew was a fairly clear standout for us."

Drew Petrie has dropped about 4.5kg since last year's preliminary final in a bid to keep up with the ever-increasing running demands on key forwards.

"I'm just trying to be a little bit lighter this time of the year and make sure I'm running really well, not carrying any extra weight that I don't need," Petrie said.

"Then over the next couple of months, I'll hopefully put on some strength in the gym."

Drew Petrie signs a new one-year deal with North Melbourne to play on in 2016.

Petrie characteristically downplayed the likelihood he would join the 300 club next season.

"I don't feel as though I deserve to be there," Petrie said.

"I won't be trying to draw any accolades or attention my way once that milestone comes up.

"Once you finish your footy, that's when you reflect on it."

Drew Petrie is in contract talks with North Melbourne and is content to accept the first one-year deal of his career to play on next season, his manager says.

Petrie is due to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season when his existing two-year contract at North expires.

"Drewy is pretty keen to go on and his footy's been pretty solid this year," Petrie's manager Shane Casley said.

"We've had an initial meeting with the club and we're in talks at the moment."

Jamie Macmillan is promoted to North Melbourne's leadership group, replacing Daniel Wells who has stepped down.

Andrew Swallow will continue as captain, with Drew Petrie, Jack Ziebell, Nick Dal Santo, Scott Thompson and Sam Gibson set to resume their official leadership roles.

"Primarily what we're trying to build here, like every club, is a really broad range of leaders," Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said.

"We really feel that to give our emerging leaders a chance to come through we need to have succession plan in place."

Brad Scott says North Melbourne is not topping up its list to try and win a premiership before star veterans Brent Harvey and Drew Petrie retire.

And the North coach is confident the Roos' flag window won't close once Harvey, who turns 37 in May, and Petrie, 32, hang up their boots.

"We think that the next era of success for North Melbourne will be heavily influenced by Brent Harvey and Drew Petrie, whether they play in that successful period or not," Scott said.

"We've never taken our eyes off the future. We've invested really heavily in the draft, but we're looking to improve our list each year."

Drew Petrie has rejected talk he could retire at the end of 2015, with the North Melbourne forward saying he has no plans to hang up the boots.

"It's funny, as soon as you get to about 29 everyone starts saying 'Oh, you're nearly 30' and 30 for some reason is this age that everyone gets scared of and starts to write players off," Petrie said.

"Sometimes you can get caught up in believing some of that talk, but no I'm honestly taking it week-by-week at the moment and if I'm not of any value to the side at the end of the year well then that's up to the coaches to decide on."

North Melbourne expects forward Drew Petrie to be fit for day one of pre-season after he underwent ankle surgery.

Petrie had the ankle joint cleaned out earlier this month.

Drew Petrie has avoided a suspension despite pleading guilty to a misconduct charge at the AFL Tribunal.

The AFL Match Review Panel had booked Petrie for making unnecessary and unreasonable contact to Hawthorn defender Lake's face during the third term on Friday night at Etihad Stadium.

Petrie had been offered the chance to accept a penalty of 93.75 carryover points with an early guilty plea. But instead he chose to plead guilty but asked that the jury find that he acted in self-defence and the carryover points penalty should be thrown out.

Petrie had risked a one-game ban but he successfully argued he was in a potentially dangerous position with Lake lying on top of him and he simply pushed upwards to get his opponent off him.

"I think my hand was on his face for about two seconds. As soon as I realised I'd made contact with his face, I pulled my hand away," Petrie said.

"If I let him lie on my face like that, it's a position you don't want to be in for too long."

The tribunal will be called upon to decide a penalty for Brian Lake's choke-hold on Drew Petrie, which occurred during the third quarter of Friday night's clash between Hawthorn and North Melbourne.

Lake was charged with misconduct by the Match Review Panel on Monday, but the panel opted against reaching its own finding on the matter.

For his part in the fracas, Petrie was cited for making unreasonable and unnecessary contact with the face of Lake.

The MRP slapped him with a one-match suspension after grading the incident as negligent, low impact and high contact

But Petrie can accept a reprimand and 93.75 carryover points if he pleads guilty.

Drew Petrie has played down his clash with Hawthorn defender Brian Lake in a case that seems destined for the AFL Tribunal.

Petrie backed away from comments he made post-match that he was "nearly asleep there for a moment" when Lake appeared to apply a choker hold on him during the Kangaroos' win on Friday night.

He told The Sunday Footy Show he wasn't scared as Lake held him down with a hand around his throat for an extended period, saying, "I'm OK with it. It's a physical game, things happen in games".

On the eve of his 250th game, Drew Petrie admits his form so far in 2014 has not been up to scratch.

"When you do hear stuff, you want to make something good out of it, not dwell or feel sorry for yourself," Petrie said.

"Part of the reason I guess I'm not going great, it's my own fault. I'm just not working hard enough or not marking the footy cleanly enough and I'm not giving our midfielders a good enough option inside the forward 50."

Daniel Wells and Scott Thompson share the Syd Barker Medal after tying in North Melbourne's best and fairest count for 2013.

Wells and Thompson both notched 50 votes, one vote clear of ruckman Todd Goldstein with vice-captain Drew Petrie fourth, three votes further back.

Following a season ending injury to Kangaroos skipper Andrew Swallow, Drew Petrie will take over as captain of North Melbourne with coach Brad Scott saying fellow vice-captain Jack Ziebell is not quite ready to take on the leadership role.

"We saw Jack as an absolute potential leader of our football club in the future, but the reality is that at the start of this year he was (still) 21, so he's still very young," Scott said.

"To put that in context he's still two years younger than Jack Grimes who's captaining Melbourne. So he's a very, very young leader, but he's exceeded all of our expectations in terms of his leadership potential.

"But [18] months on (from his appointment as vice-captain) we're not going to make a rash decision and a silly decision in my view when we've got a great leader in Drew Petrie there who's ready to captain the club and I think will do an outstanding job for us."

Drew Petrie has joined a chorus of voices calling on the AFL to overhaul its contentious Match Review Panel after the panel found Shaun McKernan's elbow to Eagle Brad Sheppard to be reckless rather than intentional.

"Shaun McKernan's elbow to the head of West Coast Eagles midfielder Brad Sheppard was appalling," Petrie wrote in an article for the Ballarat Courier.

"More shocking though was the AFL match review panel's finding. Two weeks. That's all the Adelaide Crows' big man was rubbed out for.

"I don't understand how it's been allowed to get this bad and this disappointing. Every week, we are left dumbfounded by its findings and the system is having a direct impact on the careers of players."

Drew Petrie set to be one-club player after signing new two-year deal with North Melbourne.

"There will be more movement of players in the coming years with free agency, which is great for players, but that's never entered my mind. As long as the club was happy to do a deal then I was always happy to stay," he said.

"There is definitely potential for some good finals action in the next couple of years and that's why I want to stay around to be a part of it."

Drew Petrie's manager says contract talks between North Melbourne and his client are heading in the right direction.

"We're not quite there, but we're still in open dialogue and North has been very fair and reasonable," Shane Casley of Elite Sports Properties said.

"(North list manager) Cam Joyce is away this week, but we're heading in the right direction."

Drew Petrie hopes to form a good chemistry with fellow forwards Lachie Hansen and Robbie Tarrant but says it's up to him to make it work.

"Spreading the load and responsibility is really good, but personally I feel more responsibility in this side, not necessarily to get a kick myself, but more so to help the team," Petrie said.

"I understand that it's going to take 18 players to win a game of footy and it's going to take the three of us forwards to really work well to win a game.

"But I just take a lot of that responsibility and out of the three of us I feel more responsible for how we go than the other two guys."

Andrew Demetriou says comments by Drew Petrie on the AFL inquiry into Lachie Hansen's head knock were designed to intimidate.

"I'd just caution Drew. This is an ongoing, serious investigation," Demetriou said.

"North Melbourne, or any club, I've said this before, 'Butt out of investigations. Don't try and intimidate investigators'. They go about their business without fear or favour and they'll get to the bottom of it."

North Melbourne says it is frustrated by an AFL investigation into its medical staff after Lachie Hansen, who suffered another head knock on the weekend against GWS, was been cleared to travel to face West Coast in a cut-throat preliminary final.

"They've interviewed the doc, they've interviewed players, they've interviewed myself, I'm not sure where else they're digging, what angle they're digging for," Hansen's teammate Drew Petrie said.

"I can understand why the AFL's doing it, but at the same time they are sort of questioning our doctor's ability to perform his duties, so that's a bit of a backhand slap in the face."

His five-goal last-quarter heroics sank Richmond in a thrilling four-point win for the Kangaroos, but North Melbourne big man Drew Petrie has deflected praise for his performance.

"I didn't contribute that much in the first three quarters of the game, and the rest of the boys kept us in it," Petrie said after the game.

"The delivery was great in the last quarter."

Drew Petrie kicks an equal career-high seven goals against Carlton.

"He's one of the best key forwards in the game, and he doesn't get the recognition he probably deserves," teammate Lachlan Hansen said.

"But within our club he's rated as highly as anyone."

Drew Petrie admits he may have taken pre-season a little lightly and may be paying the price for it.

"I've been very inconsistent this year. I've probably expected things to carry on a little bit from last year without putting the effort in," Petrie said.

Ahead of his 200th game, North forward Drew Petrie admits he would have loved to have captained his beloved Kangaroos.

"I would have loved the opportunity to captain the footy club," Petrie said.

"... It would have been great to have followed Brent Harvey and Adam Simpson before him, but it wasn't the case."

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott is not surprised about Drew's return to form in 2011 after the North Melbourne vice-captain missed most of 2010 due to foot injuries.

"He's returned pretty much as he left off," Scott said about Petrie.

"He hasn't lost any of his ability and it was just a matter of getting his mobility back. He is a unique athlete. He's performing pretty much as we expected him to and that's because we've got such high expectations [of him]."

Sidelined for most of 2010, Drew Petrie has returned to the forward line and is re-energised.

"So much of the time last year I just felt like a waste of space around the footy club because everybody was up and about and happy playing, and you stand in a corner and just feel as though you're getting in the way," Petrie said.

"But missing a whole season of footy probably made me realise I've only got three or four years left in the game, so this year I've just tried to let it all hang out."

North Melbourne's Drew Petrie will have further surgery on his right foot after scans confirm it was re-injured on the weekend.

Petrie is not expected to play again for the rest of the 2010 season.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says his decision to play Drew Petrie this week was based on sound medical advice despite the Kangaroos vice captain clearly looking to be under duress against the Swans.

"He got medical clearance from the surgeon to play," Scott said.

"Obviously we wouldn't risk him if it was going to do any damage in the second half, but the medical guys were pretty confident he could go out and play full forward and when it became evident to me and probably everyone at the ground he just wasn't right we took him off."

North Melbourne vice-captain Drew Petrie will have surgery on Tuesday night to repair another serious foot injury after playing just his first game for the year against Fremantle.

"It felt a bit odd when I was warming down after the final siren and the alarm bells started ringing when I realised how similar the pain was to when I injured my left foot 11 or so weeks ago," Petrie said.

"I spoke to our medical staff and I had a CT scan which showed there was a tiny fracture in the fifth metatarsal ... so almost the same injury but on the opposite side."

Drew Petrie is happy to be back from injury, but was disappointed by the Roos' 61-point loss to Fremantle in his first game for the 2010 season.

"It was good to get through a game even though it was embarrassing with how we played and the result. Personally it was good to get the old feeling back of being out there amongst it," he said.

"I don't think you are a club man if you are not hurt after that. We are all embarrassed and that's the best word to sum up how we are feeling after that game."

North's Drew Petrie has scotched rumours that his broken foot will keep him out for the entire season.

"I can categorically [say] there's only one break, the operation went very well, the screw's in there and it's going to take a few weeks to heal. That's it," he said.

"If anybody believes anything different or wants to make up anything different, come down to training on Friday and I'll show you my x-rays. The proof will be there."

North Melbourne vice-captain Drew Petrie will miss at least the first six weeks of the season after learning he needs surgery on his injured foot.

Drew Petrie has fractured a bone in his foot and faces a longer stint on the sidelines than his current suspension.

"I thought I stepped on a sprinkler head on the oval but that was actually when the bone broke," Petrie explained.

"The instant pain was really sharp but then it went away."

"I was due to miss the first two games of the season through suspension anyway but it'll hurt not being able to play straight after that."

For the first time, Drew Petrie will go into the season certain of which position his coach wants him to hold down and that is up forward.

"Brad (Scott) let me know that when we first had our meeting back in September. He said, 'I want you to play forward' so I was happy with that," Petrie said.

"All the training drills I've been playing as a forward. With blokes like Nathan Grima, Scott Thompson and Lachie Hansen being able to hold down key positions, it just allows me to have a crack in the forward half."

Drew Petrie and Trent Cotchin have escaped with reprimands for striking offences on the weekend.

Petrie was cited for striking Brad Johnson, while Cotchin was fingered for striking Jarryn Geary.

With the rest of North Melbourne's leadership group sidelined, Drew Petrie is happy to step into the breach.

"By the time Brent's finished, I might have missed the opportunity to be captain so I'm glad to be stepping into his shoes," Petrie said.

"There are other guys like Michael Firrito, Leigh Harding, Sam Power and David Hale who are senior enough to help out in the role. They've been doing that, which is good and I haven't felt alone in the role at all."