AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has been torched by Melbourne star Christian Petracca for an awkward gaffe at the Brownlow Medal on Sunday.
The footy boss was among the panel reading out the counted votes for each round of the 2022 Brownlow ceremony at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium.
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The reading of votes appeared smooth and seamless with each round, however McLachlan’s pronunciation of one surname in particular raised eyebrows, with the player himself finally deciding he’d had enough.
Petracca was spotted saying what appears to be, “it’s Petracca for f***s sake,” as his three votes for Round 16 were read out by the CEO, with a mispronunciation of the ‘a’ in the surname.
This was not the first time Petracca’s name had been read out by McLachlan on the night.
Not only did the mispronunciation from the AFL boss appear to frustrate Petracca himself, it also caused a stir among social media users who followed the event online.
“Suspect Christian Petracca will want a sit down meeting with the next AFL CEO to go over the pronunciation of his surname after tonight,” one Twitter user said.
“Is it pronounced Pet racca or pet rarka?” said another.
McLachlan is stepping down as AFL CEO at the end of this season, so he won’t get a chance to redeem himself at next year’s Brownlow.
The Melbourne Demons midfielder finished with a total of 24 votes.
Carlton’s Patrick Cripps took home the Brownlow Medal on 29 votes after a thrilling vote count that went down to the wire.
