Harrison Petty will not be traded from Melbourne to Adelaide in the dying hours of AFL trade period, but he has sent a “message” to his current club after being spotted playing golf with two Crows players on Tuesday.
The Demons have done nothing but hose down suggestions the South Australian key position player would be offered up in any trade amid constant speculation that he has a desire to get home.
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Petty featured in Melbourne’s drought-breaking 2021 premiership as a defender, but is now seen as a solution to the Demons’ issues in attack, where he will play alongside emerging key forward Jacob van Rooyen.
But murmurings that Melbourne’s prized 23-year-old is eyeing an eventual trade home won’t go away, especially after Nine cameras captured him playing golf with Crows players Darcy Fogarty and Mitch Hinge in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes said Petty’s public game of golf with rival players was a “message” to his current club.
“That is the biggest message I have seen from a player to his club,” Cornes told AFL Trade Radio.
“He has gone and played golf with Darcy Fogarty and the cameras are there.
“Did his manager organise this? It is either really smart or really dumb, but he 100 per cent wants to go home.”
And while a move home being secured before the trade deadline on Wednesday night remains terribly unlikely, the Crows will hold on to optimism that a deal can be brokered next year, despite him being contracted to the Demons until the end of 2025 when he becomes a free agent.
Adelaide list manager Justin Reid admitted on Tuesday that a trade for Petty was highly improbable.
“Respectfully, Harry’s a contract player, but obviously we’re certainly aware of his strong desire to get home,” Reid said.
“As (Melbourne list manager Tim Lamb) said yesterday, 100 per cent he’ll be at the Melbourne footy club next year.
“Not to say things won’t change in the next 24 hours, but highly unlikely.”
The two clubs did make a deal on Tuesday for wantaway Crows forward Shane McAdam, who got his wish to become a Demons player after Melbourne traded on a future second-round draft pick.
The 28-year-old kicked 72 goals in 50 games for Adelaide after debuting in 2020, but was restricted to just seven appearances this year.
Adelaide had been desperate to include Petty in the deal after McAdam requested a trade to Melbourne but the Demons refused to include him in any deal.
AFL Trade Radio’s Riley Beveridge was emphatic on Wednesday morning that, despite his game of golf with Crows friends, Petty was “no chance” of leaving the Demons this year.
“No. This just isn’t happening. If he was ever going to leave, I think it would have been caught up in that (McAdam) deal,” he said.
Melbourne’s issues in attack were badly exposed in this year’s finals as they bowed out in straight sets for a second successive season.
The Demons were “thrilled” to trade in the dynamic McAdam, who will combine in a front half with pacy small forward Kysaiah Pickett.
– With AAP
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