2022 Player Reviews: #35 Harrison Petty

[Demonland 71,884]

The key position premiership defender missed the start of 2022 due to surgery but didn’t miss a beat on return and improved his game to an even higher level. Now an important cog in the Demons’ backline although some feel he could go forward to fill a gap there.

"The key defender didn’t play until round 5 after a pre-season procedure on his calf, but was then a regular in Simon Goodwin’s defence. Was in the spotlight late in the season after an on-field sledge from Brisbane skipper Dayne Zorko left him in tears. Locked away until 2025 after signing a contract extension at the end of last year." - Herald Sun

Date of Birth: 11 December 1999
Height: 197cm
Weight: 93kg
 
Games MFC 2022: 18
Career Total: 48
 
Goals MFC 2022: 1
Career Total: 7
 
Games CDFC 2022: 1
Goals CDFC 2022: 0

[ElDiablo14 4,997]

Very Solid.. with high potential to become an AA Back.

[NeveroddoreveN 1,034]

Pretty please Simon!   

Put him forward next year.

We got plenty of defenders, + our whole team floods back.

Lets have a bit of talent and grunt in the forward half.

He will mark, and more reliably bring it to ground than any of our current forwards.   He will pressure/tackle when the ball hits the ground and make others walk taller around him due to his contested work...He will also kick many goals.

Honestly if i see us devoid of forward options and he is still playing back i will vomit.

We may lose something in the backline...but the gains in the forward half could be greater.

We want to play a forward half game but from what i saw this year BB was such a liability when the ball hit the deck it was very easy rebounding for oppositions. 

Petty would be much tougher for opposition to exploit. 

[DeeZone 9,798]

Heartily agree ElDiablo14 a Premiership defender that just keeps getting better has a huge tank and big enough to match with the Key Forwards, could also go forward but why weaken our Premiership backline. Harrison is developing into that star defender that every one envies.!!

[Sydee 4,408]

One of the first I would be selecting each week - love to see a contract extension 

Very important player for the club going forward

[M_9 2,082]

I have reservations about Tomlinson. I’d want to see he or Schache show they are up to his standard before moving Petty forward.

[Demon Jack 6,905]

Safe to say that one of the topics of the off-season will be where Petty plays in 2023.

It's a small sample size, but he played as a forward for 10 minutes in our final game of the season and cleverly set up two shots at goal while clunking a big mark and kicking one himself.

 

[JimmyGadson 3,455]

I don't like the Petty forward idea, at allllll. 

To me he's a future AA key back and for someone who had next to no pre-season, his impact was just absurd. Reads the ball so well, body work is brilliant, confident in the air and high footy IQ. 

I don't know why we'd play him forward when we know Gawn will be spending time forward, T Mac, JVR and Ben Brown are there for the second tall post with Fritsch as that hybrid third tall. 

Petty is too important to our defensive system structurally. Lever doesn't get to play the way he wants without Petty and May wouldn't have the same support either. It's a ripple effect and I don't think people realise the impact it'll have on the entire unit. 

Tomlinson is just not a like for like and since his injury, he seems completely lost and shot of confidence. And please do not name Joel Smith as a replacement because I won't take you seriously. 

We won a flag without Petty playing forward, I don't know why people think he is the answer after a poor finals campaign. It's game-plan tinkering, execution of role and consistently executing the fundamentals of the game that will see our forwardline function to its potential. 

* Edit - Also forgot Schache. He'll be given every chance to cement a spot forward over the pre-season. 

Edited October 18, 2022 by JimmyGadson

[Kent 2,909]

26 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

I don't like the Petty forward idea, at allllll. 

To me he's a future AA key back and for someone who had next to no pre-season, his impact was just absurd. Reads the ball so well, body work is brilliant, confident in the air and high footy IQ. 

I don't know why we'd play him forward when we know Gawn will be spending time forward, T Mac, JVR and Ben Brown are there for the second tall post with Fritsch as that hybrid third tall. 

Petty is too important to our defensive system structurally. Lever doesn't get to play the way he wants without Petty and May wouldn't have the same support either. It's a ripple effect and I don't think people realise the impact it'll have on the entire unit. 

Tomlinson is just not a like for like and since his injury, he seems completely lost and shot of confidence. And please do not name Joel Smith as a replacement because I won't take you seriously. 

We won a flag without Petty playing forward, I don't know why people think he is the answer after a poor finals campaign. It's game-plan tinkering, execution of role and consistently executing the fundamentals of the game that will see our forwardline function to its potential. 

* Edit - Also forgot Schache. He'll be given every chance to cement a spot forward over the pre-season. 

Could not agree more Jimmy Wel lsaid!

Some on here want to waste a great backman  to fix a [censored] forwardline

The forward line is [censored] for two reasons personnel;   Tmac  and BB Chronic injuries, ANB and Spargo poor forwards and  secondly its structural. Fix the forward line and keep Petty back where he plays great footy

Dont start  me on J Smith ! He is not the answer back or forward and I'm sure he will play good enough footy at Casey.

Thommo to have a great year after a massive preseason. I suppose we can expect Lever to miss some due to feet/ankles and Thommos ready made

[deelusions from afar 1,810]

28 minutes ago, Kent said:

Could not agree more Jimmy Wel lsaid!

Some on here want to waste a great backman  to fix a [censored] forwardline

The forward line is [censored] for two reasons personnel;   Tmac  and BB Chronic injuries, ANB and Spargo poor forwards and  secondly its structural. Fix the forward line and keep Petty back where he plays great footy

Dont start  me on J Smith ! He is not the answer back or forward and I'm sure he will play good enough footy at Casey.

Thommo to have a great year after a massive preseason. I suppose we can expect Lever to miss some due to feet/ankles and Thommos ready made

Disagree guys.  Neitz was an AA key back as well - should we have left him there his whole career?

Petty's talents are wasted in defence - particularly when May is in the team already.  We have plenty of backup for his role - Tomlinson, Smith, Schache, McDonald, Turner etc.  None of them are as good as him but all at their best (eg pre-injury Tomlinson, McDonald) are capable of playing that role effectively which frees up Petty to play the role we need.  I think Turner is the one to fill his spot in defence - at the rate of his development, he should be in the team.

We now have a number of tall forward options but if people think JVR can come in at 19/20 and hold the forwardline together then they're delusional.  He's just a kid.  Having Petty forward (or at least used frequently as a swing man) is needed in 2022.  Would much rather that than have all my eggs in the Gawn/TMac/Brown basket.

[Sydee 4,408]

10 minutes ago, Kent said:

Could not agree more Jimmy Wel lsaid!

Some on here want to waste a great backman  to fix a [censored] forwardline

The forward line is [censored] for two reasons personnel;   Tmac  and BB Chronic injuries, ANB and Spargo poor forwards and  secondly its structural. Fix the forward line and keep Petty back where he plays great footy

Dont start  me on J Smith ! He is not the answer back or forward and I'm sure he will play good enough footy at Casey.

Thommo to have a great year after a massive preseason. I suppose we can expect Lever to miss some due to feet/ankles and Thommos ready made

I understand people liking the idea of Petty staying back as I for one think he is arguably our best defender - however I can't say that your or JG's arguments for leaving him back are that compelling

Your logic for not wanting to try Petty forward is

1. We don't have any decent forwards, or they are always injured - ok so isn't that precisely the reason to try someone else?

2. It's a structural problem - not sure what that means exactly other than the fact that our delivery into the F50 is predictable and often poor. In any event if we have no decent forwards as you've suggested then surely it makes sense to try and find a forward that can deliver a greater return. In Petty we have someone that we know can actually take a contested mark BBB can't and Schache has never shown he can do that either. TMac maybe but he has a very big challenge ahead to get fit enough to play a whole season. Petty is also far more capable of contesting if the ball hits the ground than any of those guys

As far as Max being our main tall forward target that is a very high-risk strategy as it leaves us very vulnerable in the ruck should one of Max or Grundy get an injury. Max is a great player, but his set shot goal kicking is poor and I really struggle to see how that can change, he is also not great when the ball is on the ground which is understandable for a bloke of his size. Schache is certainly worth a try but tbh he's had plenty of chances (just like Weid) and never managed to hold down a spot as a key forward - the likelihood of that miraculously changing is very low

Just because we won a flag with Petty back doesn't mean that it makes more sense to leave him back - teams evolve, they change personnel, they play to their strengths. having a mindset where everything stays the same is doomed to failure. WE are lucky to have a couple of capable replacements in the back six should Petty be tried in the F50. Premiership teams and those in the window for ultimate success have always changed personnel in subsequent seasons and tweaked their game plans to try and improve (aka Geelong). If you were looking at our premiership win as the litmus test for player positions/performance, then TMac may never play forward again - he didn't fire a shot that day until the game was well and truly over 

Anyway, you both may be right, personally I'd be trialing him as a forward as I see a lot of upside in the team's performance - ultimately our coaching staff will be making the call and in them we must trust    

[Pipefitter 2,159]

My respect for this guy went through the roof this finals series. He did his job when others fell away.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,815]

Sounds like if you did a poll on defence or forward for Petty you'd have a very even count.

On the DL podcast there was a question on who had genuinely made improvements as a player in 2022 and the consensus was very few or 0 players (can't quite recall).

I would argue Petty improved. He started slowly in 2021 and was thought at the time to be a downgrade on Tomlinson’s very good 2021 start. But he was more than comfortable in his role by mid season and became a very useful defender that was key to our structure.

In 2022 he lifted his disposal count per game from 8 to 12  which reflected more involvement in the game and showed genuine flashes of a future all Australian defender. His contested marking at times was brilliant.

Very happy with his 2022 and as the above poster mentioned, tried to will us over the line in the Brisbane final.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Bring-Back-Powell