“I’d be trading him”: What annoyed Cornes about Petty's performance

Kane Cornes wasn’t surprised to see Harrison Petty ‘falter’ for Melbourne in their Wildcard Final loss to Carlton on Saturday night.

Petty kicked one goal to go with six disposals and three marks in the contest but was easily outplayed by his direct opponent Jacob Weitering, who took 12 marks, 10 intercepts and had 18 disposals in an all-time defensive finals performance.

Cornes, who has long criticised Melbourne for reportedly refusing to trade Petty to Adelaide for two first-round picks ahead of the 2024 season, would now be looking to trade the 26-year-old this off-season.

He explained what annoyed him so much about Petty’s outing on Saturday night to his Fireball co-host David King.

“I'm not sure what Petty was doing. This is what annoys me about him the most,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.

“People say, ‘Why are you so hard on Harrison Petty? Why are you so hard on Harrison?’. It’s because he puffs his chest out and he gets in the face of the opposition. He wants to wrestle, he wants to fight, he wants to verbally attack people.

“But then when it's his time, he just goes to water too often. If you're just going to sit there and wrestle Jacob Weitering all night... he almost said, ‘Come on Jacob, let's go to the football all night, I’m going to take you there, and I'm going to let you have an all-time final’.

“There was no resistance whatsoever. But then he wants to throw his weight around and puff his chest out… then gets a little knock on the knee and he’s got to get off. Toughen up; the most predictable thing I’ve ever seen was him faltering in finals.

“They should have traded him three years ago, and I'd certainly look at trading him again.

“Yeah, (he’s looked good) in meaningless games or against weaker opposition. People say, ‘What a season’, he kicked 26 goals, like whoop-dee-doo. That's what you do, you kick two goals a game as a forward, that's all he's done.

“He was terrific last week; he took eight contested marks, but too often he'll let you down. I'd be trading him, absolutely. They’ve got a decision to make there.”

Petty played 20 games for the Dees in 2026, playing the majority of the season up forward where he averaged 1.3 goals a game.