AFL greats David King & Kane Cornes go to war on live radio over booing of Jason Horne-Francis
Footy greats go to battle for over 20 minutes over shocking crowd behavior as David King and Kane Cornes hold nothing back in fiery clash
- Analysts have been involved in a row over Jason Horne-Francis
- No. 1 draft pick left North to go to Port, their former clubs
- Engaged in long discussions that got tedious at times
Former AFL stars Kane Cornes and David King have never backed down on the football pitch and now they have shown they still can’t back down in a heated radio debate that raged for over 20 minutes.
The central subject was young gun Jason Horne-Francis, the No. 1 draft pick who divided opinion in 2022 by defecting from the battling North Melbourne Kangaroos to return home to Port Adelaide.
The debate was sparked by Port coach Ken Hinkley’s comments following the Power’s round 5 win, which saw the young star once again booed by the crowd.
“If you treat my 19-year-old son the way some people have treated him, I’d be ashamed of my performance if I were those people,” Hinkley said after the game.
“I think it’s been really unfair.”
Cornes was heavily criticized by King on SEN for his use of #icebath to rile up North Melbourne fans and for ‘misrepresenting’ the amazing Kangaroos on The Footy Show
The clash lasted more than 20 minutes and resulted in many tantrums, name-calling and hands being thrown in the air.
The North Melbourne great king and former Port Adelaide star Cornes traded personal shots after Cornes criticized Kangaroos fans for their ‘disgraceful’ treatment of Horne-Francis during a speech on The Footy Show.
Horne-Francis was booed by the Adelaide Oval crowd every time he touched the ball in his team’s victory over the Western Bulldogs three weeks after taking him over from Collingwood fans in the MCG.
The situation reached a boiling point on Friday when the pair locked horns on live radio and called each other out over who was most responsible for the treatment Horne-Francis endured.
The argument escalated when King Cornes called for a mash-up of footage he used on Channel Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday night.
King said the montage included audio of King last year saying that Horne-Francis had to “pull his head in” over an incident where the No. 1 draft pick argued with former teammate Todd Goldstein in the middle of a football game.
Horne-Francis has been the divisive issue between fans of North Melbourne and Port Power, the two clubs King and Cornes played for
Orazio Fantasia and Jason Horne-Francis share a moment ahead of the 2023 AFL season
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has called on fans to leave young players like Horne-Francis alone after he was once again booed in Adelaide
King said the May 2022 audio “misrepresented” him as the pair repeatedly talked at once.
“The fact that your producer couldn’t find anything I said this year should have been alarm bells,” said King.
‘The second was this year,’ Cornes fired back.
“The second one had it cut out in the middle,” King replied.
Cornes had deleted a tweet earlier this week responding to a news report about King’s comments by posting: “#icebath.”
Horne-Francis’ debut season was filled with rocky moments, none greater than when he was dropped ahead of what would have been his first game in South Australia.
He was also called out by interim coach Leigh Adams and senior players for not completing his proper ice baths and recovery.
Cornes won a premiership with Port Adelaide and is accused of deliberately inciting Kangaroos fans over the Horne-Francis defection
King is unhappy that he has become North Melbourne’s unofficial voice on the Horne-Francis issue and that his early 2022 comments have been taken out of context
King has repeatedly said that Cornes’ brutal use of the #icebath hashtag has enraged North Melbourne fans and sparked anger against Horne-Francis.
“Basically you started a fire that has been out of control since the start of the season,” he said.
‘I do not understand. You’re suggesting that 65,000 people at the MCG in round two boo Horne-Francis for starting #icebath. To me that’s completely bizarre’, replied Cornes.
King also said he simply wants Cornes to take a percentage of the blame for Horne-Francis’ public jeering getting out of hand.
‘You can get angry about that. You’re a big boy. You’ll get over it,” he said.
“If you continue to troll, you will lose the handle. You start quarreling with fools.’
Cornes said from talks he has had with Port Adelaide that Horne-Francis will speak publicly about the situation himself in the coming days.