Caroline Wilson has recalled her own experiences of being banned by AFL coaches and officials amid the fallout from North Melbourne’s decision to blacklist outspoken commentator Kane Cornes.
North’s decision to publicly blacklist Cornes is a hot topic of debate on this week’s episode of The Age’s Real Footy podcast, co-hosted by veteran football journalists Wilson, Jake Niall and Michael Gleeson.
Alastair Clarkson and Kane Cornes.Credit: The Age
Cornes responded on Monday night to the suggestion, from former Geelong great Steve Johnson, that he was guilty of double standards in that he had tried to bump up his stats late in games during his career with Port Adelaide, which was similar to his criticism of young Kangaroos star Harry Sheezel.
“When I was doing that, the stat-padding stuff, my coaches challenged me to get that out of my game which is exactly what I was urging Alastair Clarkson to do to Harry Sheezel,” Cornes said on Seven’s Agenda Setters on Monday night.
Cornes also reiterated his invitation to interview Clarkson. “We have offered him the opportunity to come on this program multiple times, he’s been on my radio program, that invitation is still there. I am disappointed that such a strong person like Alastair Clarkson who has been in the game so long will not stand up to what they call bullying face-to-face and continues to run away from that.”
Wilson, a close colleague of Cornes at both Nine and Seven, said Denis Pagan – who coached current Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson at the club before leading it to the 1996 and 1999 premierships – regularly banned journalists from Arden Street. She also named Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge as another who’d banned her in the past.
“We’ve all been banned in the past, haven’t we, by footy clubs,” Wilson said.
“Denis Pagan famously banned us all at various times, and you didn’t know you were alive unless you’d been banned by the North Melbourne coach.”
North Melbourne’s general manager of football, Todd Viney, announced last Wednesday that his club had rejected Channel Seven’s request for Cornes to interview Clarkson in their rooms before Thursday night’s match against Essendon alongside fellow Seven pundit Luke Hodge, who played in four premierships at Hawthorn under Clarkson.
Viney cited Cornes’ repeated criticism of the club, in particular recent scrutiny of gun youngster Harry Sheezel and skipper Jy Simpkin. He said Cornes’ critiques bordered on “bullying”, saying they were “personal”, “vindictive” and “unwarranted”.
Cornes responded on Seven News that night.
“The Alastair Clarkson they thought they were getting was the Hawthorn version of Alastair Clarkson, where he was strong enough and brave enough to front up and answer that type of criticism face-to-face and man-to-man,” Cornes said.
“For him to run away from criticism like this, and essentially not be brave enough to answer it face-to-face with me in the change room, is the most disappointing thing.”
The furore overshadowed the build-up to one of North’s rare forays into a prime-time, free-to-air TV slot – a game they lost by three points.
In the discussion about the motivation for the ban on Cornes, the podcast panellists agreed it was ill-advised. They also acknowledged Clarkson and North’s insistence that the coach did not make the decision.
“It [the decision to ban Cornes] was made on behalf of him [Clarkson] to a large degree,” Wilson said.
“I think North were probably worried what might happen.”
