What do we do with Petty?

His kicking is abysmal. 10m out and he nearly hit the post. 30m out and he misses a sitter.

Zero confidence, his run up and connection with the ball are atrocious.

His bad kicking is killing us (and he's not alone)

Lever to Casey

Petty to defence

6 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

What do we do with Petty?

His kicking is abysmal. 10m out and he nearly hit the post. 30m out and he misses a sitter.

Zero confidence, his run up and connection with the ball are atrocious.

His bad kicking is killing us (and he's not alone)

Needs to be sent to the backline.

Fight for a spot with Lever and May. At the moment Disco has cemented his place down there.

Stop the fwd experiment and instead work on him as May's replacement. May will probably retire after next season.

I reckon it comes down to zero confidence. He used to be a reliable kick for goal when he made a foray forward.

Same reason Fritsch played on from 30 out yesterday. Set shot kicking is a malaise that has spread through the whole team.

How many would you trust from 40m out directly in front? JVR if he could actually get a kick, Sparrow and Kozzie perhaps but I'm not putting my house on them.

Petty’s not in the forward line to kick 10 every week, he’s a backman playing as a forward and the club know it, his role is to purely halve contests and bring the ball to ground because JVR and Jefferson can’t, the get pushed around or fall over. Our forward stocks are pathetic so what other options to provide a contest do we have

9 minutes ago, adonski said:

Lever to Casey

Petty to defence

Lever was much improved yesterday. Starting to work his way back into some form. I'd rotate Petty into defence and give Disco an extended run in the forward line.

If he's not down back, he is of zero value - and I say that by noting that since he's been thrown forward and returned back on the odd occasion, he looks nothing like the player he was seemingly developing into at the end of 2021. As it stands, we effectively play a body down with him in the forward-line.

If we don't see him as a backman, he should be moved on. Because he absolutely is not a forward.

I actually think you can build a forward line around Petty.

Milkshake, Petty, Kozzy and Chin are having a pretty good run in the last 10 rounds.

You cannot blame Petty for Howes 10 or so intercepts yesterday. The ball is continually kicked on his head, which any decent defender will make a meal of.

The failure of our forward line is the 3rd tall. Namely JVR for yesterday's instance. It basically allowed Howes and Moore to match up on Melksham and Petty leaving Frampton unaccountable. JVR could not exploit that matchup. This is where AJ has been able to disrupt the defensive matchups as he can crash packs and bring the ball to ground. I'm convinced if he was playing yesterday, Howes would not have had the game he had.

JVR maybe down on confidence and only 22, but he has very little forward craft, which is worrisome.

12 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Needs to be sent to the backline.

Fight for a spot with Lever and May. At the moment Disco has cemented his place down there.

Stop the fwd experiment and instead work on him as May's replacement. May will probably retire after next season.

Absolutely. Goody has been wrong playing him forward and for so long.

He's simply not a forward.

He lacks the strength and accuracy.

He is however, a very good defender and needs to play there.

Goody has been so stubborn in this. It's annoying. I'm sure most would agree he belongs in the backline. His contested marking count is too low as is his number of goals kicked. The latter under one goal a game. And it's not like he hasn't had a decent stint in to position. Come on Simon, let it go. Please.

14 minutes ago, Witches Hat said:

I reckon it comes down to zero confidence. He used to be a reliable kick for goal when he made a foray forward.

Same reason Fritsch played on from 30 out yesterday. Set shot kicking is a malaise that has spread through the whole team.

How many would you trust from 40m out directly in front? JVR if he could actually get a kick, Sparrow and Kozzie perhaps but I'm not putting my house on them.

#37

petty role as a forward is to compete in the air and not allow intercept marks; he failed in that regard yesterday

he's a terrific defender and i firmly believe that our backline is looking strong with petty - turner - lever beyond 2026 once may has retired

petty is not the issue from a forward line perspective; jvr and el jefe and their drop-off and / or lack of development is a far bigger issue

Edited Tuesday at 03:433 days by whatwhat say what

Petty plays one good game in 20.

I’d rather TMac any day of the week, and had we had TMac up forward instead of Petty we could have won the Collingwood and StKilda games.

Even Jeffo would offer more in my opinion.

12 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

Petty plays one good game in 20.

I’d rather TMac any day of the week, and had we had TMac up forward instead of Petty we could have won the Collingwood and StKilda games.

Even Jeffo would offer more in my opinion.

Many drank his bathwater after the 2023 Richmond game, was which extremely premature. He traditionally has been a fairly accurate goal kicker, but that has completely tapered off too. Outside of the backline, he offers absolutely nothing. I'd even go as far as saying some of the comments about him 'providing a contest' down forward are extremely flattering, with reference to his gameday output and efforts.

16 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

Petty plays one good game in 20.

I’d rather TMac any day of the week, and had we had TMac up forward instead of Petty we could have won the Collingwood and StKilda games.

Even Jeffo would offer more in my opinion.

T Mc forward is a disaster, please, let it go. Jefferson will play when he demands a spot, we’ve seen him this year, he doesn’t offer more

When he first went forward he led at the ball, but eventually seeing the ball sail over his head or breaking his foot from a Sparrow hospital kick he’s now reluctant to lead. He puts in a decent aerial contest against lesser defenders but struggles to impact against good ones.

Goal kicking is poor for a guy who kicked very straight when he first went forward too. Mentally doesn’t project any kind of confidence.

His pressure and tackling are important tho, he genuinely puts in effort there.

The real concern is he looked slow down back and is a reluctant rebounder and doesn’t like to stand under the footy as a defender either.

Teams would’ve offered plenty for him as a defender in the past as we know when the crows did. Mind you I still think turning down those picks was the right call in that very shallow draft.

A full preseason as a forward to see if he can get back to leading? Time in the vfl to really earn his position despite the replacements giving less than he does? Or we just go along knowing he does provide some contest but isn’t improving?

46 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

he's a terrific defender and i firmly beliyeve that our backline is looking strong with petty - turner - lever beyond 2026 once may has retired

The issue with that backline is you’ve got 3 players who like to intercept more than they do really defend one on ones. And of the 3 only Disco is an above average kick or runs with the ball and even he probably needs to minimise aggressive kicks.

I haven’t seen terrific defender in Petty since 21 or 22 maybe

29 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

Petty plays one good game in 20.

I’d rather TMac any day of the week, and had we had TMac up forward instead of Petty we could have won the Collingwood and StKilda games.

Even Jeffo would offer more in my opinion.

tmac is only playing down back- extending his career because playing fwd is so much more on the body. i said this a couple weeks ago we have to many key position players. one of the defenders need to go or we will lose petty/adam’s to another team. maybe we should have taken adelaide’s offer they were desperate for a tall defender and still are ….

Petty was outmuscled by Howe plenty of time yesterday which should never happen. He is a run and jump player, we really need a strong body who can contest hard and commands the best backman.

I think we need to stick with Petty as a forward this year. We have six AFL standard key defenders (May, Lever, Turner, Petty, JVR and TMac) but no decent key forwards. (I am projecting on JVR.) It is hard to find good key forwards because it is much easier to play as a key defender than key forward because one-on-one contests are rare.

In terms of average player ratings this season, the Pies have Mihocek (8.45), McStay (6.96), Membrey (6.22) and Cox (4.63). Melbourne have Melksham (9.09), JVR (6.83), Petty (6.03), so it is not much different.

Petty looks like a dear in headlights when the footy comes anywhere near him. He could be such a destructive forward with his height but instead we have got a player who is scared of the footy.

21 minutes ago, SPC said:

Petty was outmuscled by Howe plenty of time yesterday which should never happen. He is a run and jump player, we really need a strong body who can contest hard and commands the best backman.

Petty is shifted around far too easily by defenders, it’s almost laughable how easy he gets outbodied.

As a 3rd tall forward he would be great, although we have a host of 3rd talls and lack of #1 and/or #2

He hasn't been the same since his foot injury unfortunately.

2 hours ago, adonski said:

Lever to Casey

Petty to defence

Sums up a breadth and scope challenged individual...

1 hour ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

Goody has been so stubborn in this.

I used to think it was stubborness. I'm coming round to the idea he has very few other options.

He's slowly getting the team to move the ball a different way and lower eyes when kicking inside fifty. It's still not happening as often as we'd like (and even when it does start happening, every team kicks long and high at some stages during a game). For that reason, you need someone who can stand and grapple and make contests.

As many others have noted, Petty isn't great at it. But who on the list would be better?

I think many of us thought, or at least hoped, it would be van Rooyen now and for many years to come. It may still happen, but he looks a mile off at the moment.

Turner looks a conssumate key back to me. He's in terrific form. Why would we want to change it?

Jefferson? I haven't drawn a line through him like others, but I think he NEEDS that proper key forward beside him to excel. He can't be the one.

Johnson? Maybe. But now? It's a lot to ask of a bloke with six months of experience on an AFL list.

Kentfield? Good size but coming from a long way back.

Fullarton? I was hopeful when we got him. But no.

I would much prefer it if Petty was playing down back. I would be really disappointed if he was playing forward in 2026. For now, I understand why he's playing forward.

Who replaces Petty that seriously makes us better?

My answer is no one so he needs to stay where he is.