Melbourne star Christian Petracca has described the injuries he suffered in the King's Birthday clash against Collingwood as "the most traumatic thing I've experienced".

Petracca has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after being diagnosed with a Grade 5 lacerated spleen, four broken ribs and a punctured lung after copping a knee to his side from Collingwood captain Darcy Moore. 

Speaking publicly for the first time since being rushed to hospital as a result of the incident, Petracca dispelled reports suggesting his family was upset by Melbourne's handling of the injury during the match, where he initially returned to the ground after the blow from Moore before being subbed off. 

“Hindsight’s a great thing,” he told Fox Footy's AFL360. 

“Had we known it was a grade five spleen and four fractured ribs, I don’t think anyone would have let me back on the field — and neither myself, to be honest.

“I’m a competitor — I want to go back out there and try and compete. There’s so much adrenaline going through the situation; the game, 85,000 people (watching), playing against Collingwood in a big game — I think, in that situation, had I known it was a grade five spleen, there’s no way in hell I’d be going back out there, because we didn’t understand the severity of the injury at the time.

“I felt pretty sore out there, my breathing in some ways was affected a little bit — but nothing that I thought was life-threatening at all ... When I was out there, all I wanted to do was just compete and put my team first. Some people call it stupid (and) some people call it brave — I just wanted to compete for my teammates.”