MELBOURNE skipper Max Gawn hopes the fallout from Dayne Zorko's personal sledge towards Harrison Petty can prove a "line in the sand" that spells the end of similarly nasty comments in the AFL.
The Demons' thumping win over Brisbane on Friday night was overshadowed by Brisbane captain Zorko's comments to Petty about a family member that left the 22-year-old in tears at three-quarter-time.
While stressing Zorko had crossed a pre-existing line, and he hadn't heard a similarly "deep" personal sledge before, Gawn hoped the incident would prove the last of its nature.
"I don't necessarily think we needed those comments for it to be a line in the sand, it's pretty clear to me going out to games that some of those stuff are off limits," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"But definitely now the comments are done, I do hope that it is a line in the sand and those sorts of comments can stay away from the footy field.
"(It was the) first time I've heard anything that deep.
"I'm not here to talk about it and go on about it and bring it up. I actually think it's been well-handled post game, but it's certainly rare."
The Lions and Zorko apologised after the incident, and the AFL will not pursue the matter further.
Brisbane football boss Danny Daly indicated there wouldn't be any further repercussions for Zorko, such as stripping him of the captaincy.
Gawn wouldn't be drawn on whether there should have been further ramifications.
"That's not my space. There was an apology, it read well, the apology, and Harrison's taken the apology and has come in happy today," Gawn said.
"That's all that matters, that Harrison's come in with a big smile on his face."
Gawn delighted in how Melbourne had handled the situation, while acknowledging maybe a few too many players had tried to speak to Petty to check in on him.
He said coach Simon Goodwin, defensive coach Troy Chaplin and full-back Steven May had got the young defender back on track.
"Obviously the scenes weren't great in and around three-quarter time, but if you look into the fourth quarter, he did a couple of really good team efforts," he said.
"We all want to help. That can be an issue, a lot of voices can be quite tough to listen to.
"But Harry's one of us. We love what he does for the football club.
"I'm really proud of how the club handled themselves in and around the third and fourth quarter."
