Melbourne great Garry Lyon wonders if his former club should throw Harrison Petty forward in a “wildcard” move for the final month of the regular season.
Lyon says the Demons need a “ferocious” aerial competitor in their forward line and floated Petty as a potential option to play that specific role.
The 22-year-old is a defender by trade and was a key part of Melbourne’s premiership back six last year.
Petty took five marks and had eight intercepts in Melbourne’s 10-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast, Lyon and Nathan Buckley discussed Melbourne’s forward line set-up and whether Petty should be swung into attack.
Subscribe to the SEN YouTube channel for the latest videos!
Lyon: “I wonder whether Harrison Petty needs to swing forward for the Demons just as a wildcard look at it.
“Because they’re in danger of dropping out of the top four, the Demons, right now.”
Buckley: “You’re concerned about the physicality and contest in front of the ball for the aerial?”
Lyon: “For the aerial. Just a kamikaze aerial competitor.
“Sam Weideman didn’t quite do it at enough contests, Ben Brown’s not an aerial monster when he does play, Tom McDonald’s not going to play.”
Buckley: “And that’s where they have relied on (Max) Gawn and (Luke) Jackson to do a lot of that, to be ruck and get forward.”
Lyon: “It might be the craziest thing of all time, and it might be too late now, they’ve got four weeks.
“These are the sorts of things I like teams to trial somewhere along the way.
“He’s got aerial capacity, he’s a competitor, played a bit of junior footy forward I believe.
“They play the Fremantle Dockers this week, so you’re going to have (Matt) Taberner and (Rory) Lobb.
“(Jake) Lever comes back, (Steven) May’s there, maybe keep (Adam) Tomlinson, not sure where Brown sits in all this. It’s just a crazy thought that occurred to me as I was watching them play on the weekend.
“They need someone who can throw themself in at those contested balls forward of centre.”
Buckley: “One thing you do know is that small forwards love that.
“Any tall forward that throws themselves into a contest and creates a ground ball for the smaller roles to go to work, they’re worth plenty.”
Lyon: “They need a ferocious competitor in their forward half, like a mad ferocious competitor.
“People compete at different levels, I just think you wind him up, let him go and see what happens.”
The second-placed Demons travel to Perth to play fifth-placed Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Friday night.
More in AFL
“This time next year…”: Cornes’ bold pick for his next AFL head coach in waiting
“I think he is the most ready head coach in waiting.”
Balta facing jail as CCTV of brutal assault is aired
CCTV footage of Richmond premiership player Noah Balta allegedly assaulting a man has been shown in court.