Which side are you on regarding the Christian Petracca and Leo Lombard incident?

Kane Cornes and David King were on opposing sides of the argument after the Gold Coast teammates were involved in a heated exchange late in their loss to Carlton on Saturday.

In the final moments of the 13-point defeat at Marvel Stadium, vision captured four-time All-Australian Petracca shouting at 19-year-old teammate Lombard after the Suns’ academy graduate was caught holding the ball.

Lombard then appeared to tell Petracca to “f--k off”.

King could not believe that a senior player would behave in such a manner.

“I think Christian Petracca is the biggest loser for the weekend,” King said on SEN’s Fireball.

“I just think when you’re there to encourage young players to come out of their shell and find their ceiling and be the best they can be.

“Yeah, they make some mistakes, but to sort of go after them multiple times like he did, I don't think is advantageous to where you're going as a footy club.”

Cornes did not agree.

Cornes: “I don't think it's in your best interests, after you've done the wrong thing and been on the receiving end of some feedback - and it was a completely selfish move from Leo, it’s not the first time in his game that he does silly things. Cop the feedback young man and take it.”

King: “He did, four times.”

Cornes: “Don't tell a Norm Smith Medallist to f-off when you've actually done the wrong thing.

“If he had have just said the first time, ‘Yep, sorry Christian, my bad’. Christian wouldn't have gone at him four times.”

King: “He didn't have a chance, he was on the deck for three of them.”

Cornes: “Pull your head in and get out the way and know your role.”

King: “What, get out the way for Christian?”

Cornes: “Well, this is the problem for these young players, high draft picks. They come in, they think they're the man straight away, and they're not.

“That's what he does.”

King: “Have you met Leo?”

Cornes: “No, I haven't, but I can tell by the way I see him play. He thinks he's the man and that's fine. There's a nice bit of healthy confidence that you can have as a player, but his is extreme.

“He nearly killed Jed Walter last week by trying to take a specky in his forward 50. Know your role, play your role.

“And when you don't put your hand up and say I've done the wrong thing and don't tell a senior player to f-off. Pull your head in.”

King: “No. There's not one Melbourne supporter that is not laughing this morning at what they've avoided, not one.”

Cornes: “Yeah, well, they should be thankful for his service.”

King: “They are thankful and they are rapt with what he was able to do for them.”

Cornes: “You wouldn't have told a senior player at North Melbourne to f-off in your first two seasons. You wouldn't have.”

King: “I wouldn't have had a senior player at North Melbourne speak to me like that. In fact, they had the reverse. For us to be the best, they needed every person who was contributing to be their best.”

Cornes: “You would have had a coach say that to you though. You would have had a coach give you that feedback strongly, I'm sure.”

King: “But the players' feedback means more than the coaches. When the captain looks you in the eye and says, ‘Hey mate, you've got to do this better, you've got to take control of your game in these three areas or this area’, it means more than a coach saying it.

“With the Christian Petracca thing I'm surprised you are where you are on this one. I'm surprised. The kid is 19 and played 20 games.”

Cornes: “I’ve been watching him closely, and I certainly was on the receiving end of feedback like that as a player, and I hope I would never have told a senior player with his standing in the game to f-off after he'd done the wrong thing, selfishly done the wrong thing.

“Christian was the only one on that forward stoppage trying to organise, set people up. So I don't know, I see it a different way but that's not the last time you and I will see it differently on Fireball.”

"That shows real disrespect": Sanderson reacts

Former Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson reacted to the incident on Sunday.

Reflecting on the event a day after it took place, the former Geelong star took a similar view, noting that while criticism among teammates is not uncommon, the way it was displayed in this instance was not a great look.

“On the field, there's good conflict, and there's poor conflict,” Sanderson said on SEN’s Crunch Time.

“These are super competitors; these are young men who are desperate to win, and both of those men are.

“You can say stuff like they did on the field when it's stuff like, you're meant to roll behind me, or you need to stay deeper, or you were meant to block and that.

“But then there's the poor conflict (like) the personal criticism, the blaming, the sarcasm, the body language that shows real disrespect.

“I think those conversations need to be had with the playing group before because there are conversations on the field that improve performance and there's conversations on the field that really does damage trust.

“So, that wasn't a great look yesterday when we were watching it.”

Gold Coast will be hoping that their losing streak doesn’t extend into double digits next weekend.

They face Melbourne at People First Stadium next Sunday from 3:15pm AEST.