AFL to investigate alleged verbal sledge that left young Dee Harry Petty in tears

Melbourne says the AFL will likely look into an incident from Friday night’s win over Brisbane involving young defender Harry Petty, who was left in tears after an alleged on-field comment.

An emotional Petty was consoled by Melbourne coaches, officials and players during the three quarter-time break of his side’s big win over the Lions at The Gabba.

Fellow key defender Steven May was seen first putting his arm around Petty before Mark Williams, Troy Chaplin and Simon Goodwin all checked in on the South Australian.

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Demons football boss Alan Richardson then approached Lions counterpart Danny Daly at the final change to alert Brisbane to Petty’s concerns.

Petty began the final quarter on the bench but came back on during the fourth term to play out the rest of the game.

He was then seen post-game having a long conversation with Lions captain Dayne Zorko.

Zorko in hot water over Petty incident | 00:43

Fox Footy then showed footage from the three quarter-time break where Petty confronted Zorko.

Daly said he’d apologised to the Demons, while Zorko had also apologised to Petty.

Goodwin said the matter would be handed over to the AFL, but thanked the Lions for the way they’d handled a delicate situation.

“‘Petts’ thought he heard something inappropriate about a family member he was a bit upset about it,” Goodwin told reporters

“Brisbane have spoken to us and obviously the AFL will look at it. That’s pretty much the details we’ll give at the moment and we’ll just hand it over to the AFL.

Melbourne Demons Press Conference | 04:57

“Petts was a bit emotional at three quarter-time. He went away, reset himself and came back into the game.

“Brisbane have been quite apologetic towards us and that’s the type of footy club they are. They’re a very respected humble footy club and we’ll taken them on their word.”

Asked how Petty was feeling, Goodwin said: “He’s fine. He’s all good.

“I thought his last quarter was pretty strong.”

Lions coach Chris Fagan said Brisbane would investigate the incident and expects the AFL to also look into the flashpoint.

“I don’t know a hell of a lot about it. I haven’t had a chance to talk to the players.

Obviously, something did happen, I’ve been made aware of that and no doubt we’ll have an investigation into it ourselves to find out what happened and I suppose the AFL will do the same thing,’’ he said.

Brisbane Lions Press Conference | 02:53

“I can’t really shed any light on it for you because I’d just be making it up and I don’t want to do that … it would concern me that any of our players got caught up in an incident like that, but I won’t judge just yet because I don’t know enough about it.

May said seeing Petty upset “pinched a nerve”.

“I don’t know exactly what was said, but Petts wasn’t like he normally is. He’s a tough country boy if you know him, not much rattles him,” May told AFL Nation.

“I had a chat to Zorko at the end and told him whatever you said, you crossed the line. He was pretty remorseful but he told me he didn’t say it, I think there was a misunderstanding.

There’s a line that you don’t cross on-field.”

Asked if he knew what happened, Demons skipper Max Gawn told Channel 7: “I wasn’t there. There was a few words. All I saw was my teammate in tears.

“It got us going a little bit and we all wanted to come out in that last quarter, but there’s plenty of big fish to fry in the next few weeks.

“I think they sorted it out, there were a few handshakes so hopefully all is well.”

Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon added: “It’s unusual to see someone as upset as Harrison was, but we don’t know the circumstances.”

Zorko was central to ample scuffles and off-field incidents throughout the game.

Asked if the Dees went into the game with a plan to target Zorko, Norm Smith Medallist Christian Petracca told Fox Footy post-game: “No that was just something that unfolded throughout the game.

Harry Petty and Eric Hipwood. Picture: Chris HydeSource: Getty Images

“I think it’s just two contested teams who are going at it all night. It was a fiery game, we wanted to bring the heat from the start. I felt like in the second half we were a lot more controlled, composed with it after the first half was about our aggression around the footy, which really set us up. Defensively I thought were unbelievable and offensively we had everything going on because when you put the work into defence, everything just opens up for you.

“We knew coming in it was going to be a hostile environment and we knew they were going to bring the aggression. We did a number on them at the MCG last time we played them, so for us it was really important to control that aggression.

“Sometimes as midfielders, you go into aggression and you overcommit … For us it was just about one to the ball-carrier, trust the tackler and the rest take care of their other men.”

Fagan defended Zorko’s leadership post-game.

“He did at times (look frustrated and agitated). He’s very passionate about our footy club and he would have been pretty disappointed at what was unfolding and that might have led to some frustration,” Fagan said.

“I’d like to have a look at some vision to have a real accurate feel about that because whilst his leadership might not have been up to standard tonight … he’s been great for us over the last four or five years so I’m not going to cane him for one performance where he was potentially below par.’’