After matching up on Kysaiah Pickett at training, Harrison Petty watched on in awe at the carnage the Melbourne star is able to inflict on an opposition defence.
Pickett put in one of the best individual performances of the season, helping the Demons upstage Fremantle on Saturday to end their difficult winless start to 2025.
The 23-year-old dynamo started off in the midfield, but pushed forward to boot four first-half goals and end the match with five.
Fremantle had no answers for his brilliance, highlighted by when Pickett streamed in to slot his fifth goal, but still had time to turn around and show the ball to Dockers defender Josh Draper.
Regular defender Petty, who was swung forward against the Dockers and kicked four goals of his own, was in awe of Pickett's performance.
"It's almost clear out and let him do his own thing," Petty said of Pickett after the drought-breaking win.
"If I was a backman playing on him, I would not want to play on him.
"At training, he's hard enough, let alone game day."
Pickett's eye-catching performance came against a club he has been linked to join next year, despite being contracted at Melbourne until 2027.
"He's a special, special person. We bloody love him in this club," Petty said of Pickett.
Petty has spent much of his career in defence, but has a knack for producing impressive cameos up forward.
In a game against Richmond in 2023, the premiership player bagged six goals.
The plan against Fremantle was always for Petty to play forward, but that was thrown into some doubt when Steven May joined fellow star defender Jake Lever on the sidelines.
"At the start of the pre-season, he (coach Simon Goodwin) said you could be forward or back. Just be ready for both," Petty said.
"I got told probably midway through the week that I was going to play forward.
"I'm just happy to be out there.
"I've missed too much footy with injuries (to be worrying about position) so I'm happy to be either end and just happy playing footy again."
Petty believed the win over the Dockers could act as a spark for Melbourne's season, despite them coming from a long way back at 1-5.
The Demons have a golden opportunity to make it two-straight wins when they face rebuilding Richmond on Thursday night.
"We've just sort of got to wipe that (external pressure) to the side and focus on what we can control," Petty said.
"I feel like as a club we've dealt with that all really well, and we've just got to put our best foot forward on the ground now."
