The severity of Christian Petracca’s spray to teammate Leo Lombard has suggested there are serious issues at the Suns after the two clashed in the final quarter of the Gold Coast’s 16.14 (110) – 15.7 (97) loss to Carlton.

With seven minutes to go, the Suns were down by 12 points and inside 50 as Lombard and Petracca ran the same channel off a tap.

Leo Lombard looks on after a spray from Christian Petracca. Fox Footy

Lombard grabbed the Sherrin and was caught holding the ball with Petracca giving him a fiery spray in the aftermath.

In response, Lombard told Petracca to “f— off”.

The exchange gives pundits a chance to read into perceived internal issues at the Suns amid the club’s nine-match losing streak.

On Fox Footy, David King said it provided an insight into the issues inside the dressing room.

“Sometimes, perception is reality, and from the outside looking in, we’re looking for fractures in the group, and that’s a simple reality when you have a seven-win season and drop out of the finals race as early as they have,” he said.

“Petracca here and a young player in Leo Lombard, who’s 19 years of age, he’s played 23 games. Petracca has done it all. And not only does he give (Lombard) a bake, he gives him two or three.

“And it’s not taken well by the young fella, who turns around and lets him know, ‘OK, I might have done the wrong thing, but give me a spell’.

“They need to get to the core of these problems. Damien Hardwick will say that happens 100 times a game, and maybe it does, but not to that level, not to a level of a senior player chasing back in and barking back in while a young player’s on the ground.

“I understand feedback can be harsh and severe … but not a senior, core 30-year-old to a 19-year-old, 20-gamer.”

King’s foreshadowing was almost spot on with Hardwick saying post-game that those incidents would happen thousands of times over the weekend.

When asked about the exchange, Hardwick initially acted unaware of the harsh words, saying “clash in what way?“, before going into greater depth.

“The game requires feedback. How you respond to that feedback is something Leo as a young player, he’ll get better at,” he said.

“I’m not privy to the conversation, we’ll talk about it during the week. It is what it is, happens thousands of times over the weekend.”