‘Gets most of it right’: Freo coach goes into bat for polarising youngster after taunting incident

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said he was in the dark over Patrick Voss’ taunting incident towards Melbourne’s Harrison Petty but backed his polarising forward, saying he “gets most of it right”.

The Dockers demolished the Demons by 48 points at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Saturday night, but the biggest talking point from the match was Voss’ exchange with Petty at quarter-time.

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Voss was caught on the television broadcast making a ‘cry baby’ gesture towards Petty by repeatedly rubbing his eyes.

While what was said between the players on field is unknown, the incident cast minds back to 2022 when Petty was left in tears at the Gabba after being inappropriately sledged by former Brisbane Lions captain Dayne Zorko.

Voss has a history of being an agitator and his theatrics in the Round 2 clash even included a fireman’s carry on Demon Ed Langdon.

Longmuir said post-match that he did not see the incident, but acknowledge that he will have to have a conversation with the 22-year-old about his antics.

“I’m unsure — I don’t know what context that was done in. When was it?” he told reporters at Optus Stadium.

“I don’t know what context it was in; I don’t know the incident. We were walking down at quarter time.

“He treads a fine line, but I think he gets most of it right. I’ll follow up with him, have a chat and see what that is.

“He tries to help his teammates out who are getting tagged. He goes after target players for us or players we want to try and negate from the opposition.

“He does a lot right in that sense. We understand he treads a fine line at times, and he’s got to manage that.”

Melbourne coach Steven King did not address the incident.

He was instead pleased with the way his side responded after being 42 points down at the first break, when the exchange took place.

“Clearly the way we wanted to play is not embedded yet but really pleased with the group to not capitulate and throw the towel in,” King said.

“At quarter-time, things could have got really ugly but as a coach I loved the response of the group.

“It’s certainly a steep learning curve for a few of our young players on the road.

“Our fundamentals weren’t up to speed, so I’m not going to make excuses for that. They put us under enormous pressure and we couldn’t handle it tonight.”