Inside the Kane Cornes and Luke Beveridge feud that erupted on national TV

It was the fiery exchange between two men who – for their own reasons – were not going to back down. Jay Clark goes inside the feud between Luke Beveridge and Kane Cornes.

Luke Beveridge will have felt Kane Cornes baited him.

When the Western Bulldogs’ coach walked past Channel 7’s on-field commentary position on Thursday night it was only ever going to take a single word to ignite the biggest tinderbox in football.

And when Cornes took a step towards Beveridge and with a little head nod said “Bevo”, the petrol was poured.

The fiery exchange was a decent dose of extra theatre which raged across social media platforms on Thursday night and Friday morning as two of the best teams in it delivered one of the most spectacular games of the season.

Luke Beveridge. Picture: Michael Klein

Kane Cornes. Picture: Getty Images

But it takes something remarkable to overshadow the Bailey Smith comeback game against his old mob.

And despite Smith admitting post-match he was “sh---ing himself” about the match-up and required four painkilling jabs in his shin just to play, it was the clip of the Cornes-Beveridge stoush which dominated Whatsapp groups and water cooler discussions around the country on Friday morning.

Passion runs deep in the AFL and seemingly everyone has a side in this rivalry.

Officially, the AFL doesn’t have a view on what played out at GMHBA Stadium pre-game and nor should they as it wouldn’t be in the league’s top 1000 problems after the fortnight AFL House has endured around the umpire stuff-ups and Willie Rioli.

Not that you will hear them say it, but the league’s position is these two grown men can sort out their beef themselves as long as it doesn’t bring the game into disrepute or eventuate into a full-blown WWE event.

But Channel 7 won’t for one second back away from supporting their man who has become one of the biggest headline generators in the game with his forthright analysis.

There was a huge battle for Cornes’ signature in the broadcast wars last year for this reason; the Port Adelaide great delivers some of the most stinging opinions in the game.

And if Beveridge “stared strongly” at Cornes, as he has said, then Cornes is never going to back down or be intimidated, no matter how tense things get.

So, Cornes stared straight back into the fire when he engaged with the first word and a little head nod on Thursday night, and ‘Bevo’ didn’t miss the opportunity to make his feelings clear, again.

The focus turned away from Bailey Smith to Luke Beveridge and Kane Cornes on Thursday night. Picture: Getty Images

On SEN, Cornes said Beveridge said to him “something along the lines of, ‘You’ve got the nerve to say that?’

“And I said, ‘What? I can’t say hello?’”

If Beveridge doesn’t stare at Cornes in the first place, or the Port Adelaide midfielder just turns around back towards the camera, then none of this eventuates.

On Fox Footy, North Melbourne dual premiership star David King was equally forthright about the exchange, saying “there are no winners”.

“This is what Kane does. This is his schtick,” King said on Fox Footy.

“It makes two intelligent people look really foolish.”

Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna added: “It’s not a good look when you’ve got two people who don’t like each other and these sorts of things can happen.”

Really, it’s all a bit of fun for the footy public in any case, and probably not the last time we will see this dance, in all likelihood.

Cornes is the main man for Channel 7 on Thursday nights and the Dogs will take centre stage after next week’s bye with the next two Thursday night games.

In total, the Dogs play four more Thursday nights and three more Friday nights over the rest of the season, plus whatever happens in September.

And despite the loss to the Cats, the Dogs look like a team who can go all the way.

Remember ex-Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams famously said ‘Allan Scott you were wrong’ after lifting the cup in 2004.

Beveridge would probably show restraint if he happened to take out a second premiership this season as much as he would like to crack back at Cornes’ suggestions he hasn’t maximised the talent on the list in recent years.

Not sure Cornes will be cheering for the Dogs, of course, after only extinguishing the Harry Sheezel – North Melbourne blow-up over his ‘Sheezyball’ comments last month.

Cornes was barred from the Kangaroos’ change rooms and now Channel 7 and the Dogs might need a protractor when they carefully plot their paths pre-game at venues for the rest of the season.

In a matter of weeks, Beveridge will sign a new deal to stay at ‘The Kennel’ after delivering for his club one of the coaching performances of the season.

Beveridge will always have his players’ backs and it was back in 2021 when the biggest rift in footy exploded over Adam Treloar.

Cornes said Treloar had “spat the dummy because he’s not playing midfield” after a poor game, and Beveridge fired back at Cornes for his “vindictive” and “nasty” commentary, and questioned how someone “can lie in bed with you”.

Cornes didn’t love the reference to his wife, and since then the pair have boxed on.

Most of the time, these sorts of rivalries can be sorted out with a catch-up coffee.

In this case, however, it’s best if the pair probably stay away from each other.

Originally published as Inside the Kane Cornes and Luke Beveridge feud that erupted on national TV