Brisbane Lions skipper Dayne Zorko is set to be investigated over an alleged personal sledge which left Melbourne defender Harrison Petty in tears.
As the siren sounded to end the third quarter, cameras caught Petty and Zorko engaging in a push and shove before the Demons defender was seen in tears in Melbourne’s huddle.
Petty was visibly distressed, prompting Demons football boss Alan Richardson seeking out his Lions counterpart Danny Daly to notify him of the incident.
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Petty was consoled by skipper Max Gawn, head coach Simon Goodwin, as well as assistants Mark Williams and Troy Chaplin before checking back into the game for the fourth quarter.
Following his side’s 18. 7. (115) to 8. 9. (57) win at the Gabba, which secured them a top-four spot, Goodwin touched on the Petty incident, but refused to divulge too many details regarding the sledge itself.
“Obviously Petts thought he’d heard something inappropriate about a family member and he was bit upset about it,” Goodwin told reporters.
“Brisbane have spoken to us and obviously the AFL will look at it. Petts was a bit emotional at three-quarter time, he went away … then came back into the game.
“Brisbane has been quite apologetic to us and that’s the type of footy club they are.”
Zorko was remonstrated with by a number of Demons players after the final siren and and looked to have apologised to Petty, with the pair shaking hands.
“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,” Melbourne defender Steven May told AFL Nation after the match.
“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. For one of my teammates to be upset, it pinched a nerve.”
Brisbane confirmed after the match that the incident would be investigated.
“I was alerted to an incident that had happened at three-quarter-time by Alan Richardson,” Daly told Seven after the match.
“We spoke to our player (Zorko), he’s apologised to the Melbourne player (Petty), and I’ve apologised to the Melbourne Football Club straight after the game as well.
“Obviously we’ll investigate it a bit further.”
The incident followed a separate scuffle involving Zorko on the half-time siren, with St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt criticising the Lions skipper for showing “fake toughness”.
“They look like a side that it (off-ball scuffling) just doesn’t come naturally to them,” he said on Fox Footy’s coverage.
“Even at the end with Dayne Zorko – last week against St Kilda he was carrying on and it’s carried on into this week.
“They’re distracted, I’m not sure what he thinks he’s trying to do from a leadership point of view with that group, but it’s clearly not working when you carry on and fake toughness is distracting the team from what they need to achieve.”
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