Cornes continues war of words with North, Clarko slams Curtis ban, JUH swipes back at Riewoldt
The stoush between controversial AFL media pundit Kane Cornes and North Melbourne only escalated throughout the Kangaroos’ Thursday night loss to Essendon, with Cornes doubling down on his criticism of the club and coach Alastair Clarkson.
The Roos announced a black ban on Cornes mid-week following what they described as ‘vindictive, bullying’ comments on captain Jy Simpkin and young gun Harry Sheezel.
The club rejected an interview request from broadcaster Channel 7 which would have seen Cornes and former great Luke Hodge interview Clarkson before the match, with Hodge alone permitted to speak to his former coach.
In the interview, Clarkson hit back at Cornes, reiterating the club’s disappointment in his comments.
“They say those that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, so I know a little bit about Kane’s history,” Clarkson said.
“Some of the things he was saying about Jy and ‘Sheez’, I just think – especially from the host broadcaster who is covering this game tonight, this isn’t shared across the football world – but I’ve got a view there should be a relatively good balance.
“Particularly when you’re talking about the players; they’re the product of the game, they’re the guys on the field and in the trenches with their mates trying to fight for their side.
“When the line gets crossed, we know that there’s critique in the game, we’ve been copping it for 20 years.”
Cornes, though, wasn’t backing down, having accused Clarkson of being ‘not brave enough’ to address his comments face to face.
“I was looking forward to asking Alastair Clarkson some tough questions; I think the club needs to answer those. But unfortunately they’ve gone down this route,” Cornes said on Seven pre-game.
During the match, the former Port Adelaide 300-gamer caused a particular stir with criticism of a poor handball by star midfielder Luke Davies-Uniacke, which prompted Hodge and commentator Brian Taylor to try and rein him in.
“When you put your hand up for one of the biggest contracts in football, you can’t turn the footy over under no pressure with a handball in the middle of the ground,” he said.
“So Luke Davies-Uniacke, the highest-paid player, just needs to be better.”
Davies-Uniacke recently signed a seven-year deal worth around $1.3 million a season to tie him to the Kangaroos until the end of 2032.
“You’re not telling me, though, that his contract has anything to do with that one play?” Taylor questioned Cornes.
“When you pay a player $1.3 million, you can’t be making handball errors under no pressure for the second time in one quarter of footy,” Cornes retorted.
When Taylor and Hodge added that ‘no one’s perfect’ and ‘everyone makes mistakes’, Cornes doubled.
“It doesn’t mean you can’t demand better, Hodgey. Please!” he said.
In the third quarter, Simpkin, who was criticised by Cornes for a verbal clash with Port Adelaide’s Jason Horne-Francis, reacted to a goal by turning pointedly to the crowd and making a ‘shushing’ gesture, which Taylor took to be a direct attack at Cornes.
“That, I reckon, is directed firmly at you Mr Cornes!” Taylor said.
“He has pointed directly at you, and he’s saying ‘you deserve this! You deserve this, Cornes!”
“It’s a long way out to go the shush, BT! It’s a long way out!” Cornes replied.
“Amazing it’s taken that to get a response, if that is the case. Where’s this been for four years?”
The stoush had a frosty postscript after the Kangaroos’ narrow loss, with Clarkson reacting icily to a press conference question on when he had told the team of the plan to boycott Cornes.
“I didn’t tell them … it didn’t come from me,” Clarkson said on either side of a stony silence.
‘Really disappointed’: Clarko slams AFL leadership amid Curtis ban
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has lashed out at the AFL over Paul Curtis’s three-match dangerous tackle ban.
In Thursday night’s 9.11 (65) to 9.8 (62) loss to Essendon, North sorely missed the small forward, after the AFL tribunal upheld his suspension for a dangerous tackle that concussed Port Adelaide’s Josh Sinn.
The Kangaroos, 1-7 and on a six-game losing run, still have at least two more games without Curtis, who Clarkson believes is the game’s best tackler, against Brisbane and Richmond.
“It’s a shame that that part of our game is getting questioned,” Clarkson said.
“It’s a feature of our game. We understand there’s a duty of care, but there’s a duty of care to the game.
“If the player hasn’t got any intent other than to try and lay the tackle … we understand the slings, but this is not a sling, this is a football action.
“We’re disappointed with that outcome and particularly the severity of the outcome.
Paul Curtis’ tackle on Josh Sinn left the Port Adelaide defender with a concussion. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“Football action, he gets three weeks, someone swings an arm, off-the-ball incident, he gets less. It doesn’t make sense.
“Also doesn’t make sense that the AFL come out and say, ‘oh we might change that at the end of the year.’ It doesn’t help us. We’re really disappointed with that. Really disappointed.
“Because really strong leadership would say ‘we understand it’s wrong and we’ll change it right now.’ He shouldn’t be missing three weeks of footy.”
Clarkson also defended his call to play Harry Sheezel off half-back amid heavy scrutiny over the classy young gun.
He had 32 disposals and 591 metres gained against Essendon.
“Would we like him to play midfield and forward a little bit? Yep,” Clarkson said.
“But he won a best and fairest as a half-back flanker too.
“Part of our trouble in terms of defending the ground is part of the reason why he’s gone back the last two weeks.
The Kangaroos have blacklisted ex-Port Adelaide midfielder and pundit Kane Cornes over criticism of Sheezel and skipper Jy Simpkin that the club considered had crossed the line.
That included the suggestion Sheezel had been winning easy possessions in defence rather than having impact forward of the ball.
“It’s hard to have score involvements when you’re playing half-back flank,” Clarkson said of Sheezel.
“There’ll be critiquing of that elsewhere but part of being able to defend the ground is how do you get out of your back end effectively? And we just need guys who use the ball really well.
“We saw what (Connor) Rozee’s been able to do for Port Adelaide in the last three weeks since he’s gone back.
“They were battling to get it out, Port Adelaide, early in the year and then he goes back. It’s a masterstroke.
“Winning requires no explanation but when you lose you’ve got to try and justify everything.”
Asked when the players were told the club had put a ban on Cornes, Clarkson said: “I didn’t tell them.”
Bombers count the cost as injury carnage mars North win
Coach Brad Scott has hailed Essendon’s character and resilience after the Bombers overcame injury carnage to claim a gritty three-point win over North Melbourne.
The Bombers led by 26 in the second term but lost luckless defender Jordan Ridley to a hamstring injury just before half-time, and Harrison Jones to a horror lower leg injury in the third quarter.
Jade Gresham limped off in the final term with adductor tightness and North debutant Finnbar Maley missed a shot to snatch victory, with the Bombers claiming a 9.11 (65) to 9.8 (62) win at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
“The thing that I was really pleased with tonight was the resilience and the character of the group,” Scott said.
“To North’s credit, they were never out of it. We could never really put them away. They just kept coming.
“We obviously had some adversity in the last quarter, and coaches are always loath to individualise, but we had some individuals that just stood up in big moments, players that we just couldn’t take off the ground.”
Those clearly included the outstanding Bombers skipper Zach Merrett (35 disposals) and veteran ruckman Todd Goldstein.
Ridley, in his 100th game, limped off shortly before half-time.
Big man Jones was taken off on a stretcher after attempting to spoil a mark then landing awkwardly on his left ankle, which bent at an awful angle.
He was taken to hospital with, at minimum, a dislocated ankle.
Defender Jaxon Prior could come under scrutiny for a dangerous, slinging tackle on Cameron Zurhaar.
North defender Jackson Archer suffered a left hamstring injury in the second quarter and was substituted for Bailey Scott.
“He was limping pretty badly. I dare say it’s not a slight strain. He’ll miss some weeks, I’m sure,” coach Alastair Clarkson said.
The match came a day after North put a media ban on pundit Kane Cornes for criticism of Harry Sheezel and Jy Simpkin that the club believed had crossed the line.
Sheezel (32 disposals) grew into the game while Simpkin (21) kicked two crucial goals when North needed him.
Ruckman Tristan Xerri (37 hitouts, 25 disposals) was dominant against former teammate Goldstein.
Essendon kicked the first three goals and six in the opening term.
The Kangaroos, down by 22 at half-time, found fresh intensity and capitalised on Ridley’s absence down back, snagging the first four goals of the second half.
Zurhaar levelled the scores early in the fourth before Isaac Kako steadied Essendon.
Zane Duursma cut the lead back to three points, but Maley took too long to take his set shot, was called to play on, missed and Essendon held on.
“His humility would suggest he feels like he’s let the team down but he hasn’t let us down at all,” Clarkson said of Maley.
“He’s a ripper and he’ll bounce back into the club on Monday and get himself ready for the next game.
“We came back from a game that looked shot for us at quarter-time and we found a way to get back into a contest.”
North Melbourne, winless in six, next head to Hobart to face reigning premiers Brisbane in nine days, while Essendon (4-3) host Sydney next Saturday.
Ugle-Hagan swipes back with cheap shot at Riewoldt
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has swiped back at former great Nick Riewoldt’s criticism of the troubled Bulldogs star with a cheap shot on his Instagram page.
Ugle-Hagan’s football future is up in the air after taking a period of indefinite leave from the Bulldogs, having only sporadically appeared at training throughout the year.
However, he has remained active on social media in violation of the club’s requests, with relationships between the talented former No.1 draft pick and teammates reportedly either strained or broken.
Speaking on Triple M during the week, Riewoldt was scathing of Ugle-Hagan’s conduct, saying the Bulldogs should have the ability to dock some of his pay in such a situation.
“I think the balance of power has moved too far in the player’s favour and you end up with a situation like this,” he said.
“It is difficult to talk about because there is mental health at play, but clubs should have some sort of discretion to be able to recoup some of that money.
“It feels like players can essentially take the piss.”
Ugle-Hagan responded by changing his Instagram profile picture to a photo of Riewoldt dating back to the infamous ‘St Kilda schoolgirl scandal’ of late 2010, in which a 17-year old attempted to blackmail him and Saints teammates Zac Dawson and Nick Dal Santo by releasing naked photos of the trio.
(with AAP)