‘3-0’: Kane Cornes’ fresh Luke Darcy slap after retirement news

Kane Cornes couldn’t resist taking a parting shot at his longtime media foe after news a Channel 7 star was quitting the footy media industry.

Kane Cornes just couldn’t resist taking a fresh dig at Luke Darcy after news the Channel 7 caller was leaving the AFL media.

The Melbourne footy media landscape has been rocked this week after it was confirmed veteran journalist Caroline Wilson was defecting from Channel 9 to Channel 7 next year.

Wilson will join colleague and Footy Classified co-host Cornes, who is also making the move to AFL’s free-to-air host broadcaster.

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Craig Hutchison, who was an original member of Footy Classified alongside Wilson, is also set to jump ship to Seven together with his media company.

It has also emerged Darcy has decided to walk away from the industry all together, also ending his roles with Triple M radio. .

Former ruckman Darcy, 49, played 226 games with the Western Bulldogs before entering the media upon his retirement in 2007.

He also had a long-running breakfast show on Triple M with Eddie McGuire before that ended in 2020.

Darcy also got enormous notoriety for his interviews during the 2013 Essendon peptide saga and his repetition of the phrase, “say that again”.

Luke Darcy is set to leave his media roles. Photo: Andrew Hobbs Photography.

It’s understood Darcy is keen to have more time to watch his son Sam play with the Western Bulldogs.

Darcy and his family also have an array of business interests, including a wellness spa in Bali, pubs and venues in Victoria and a podcast on leadership.

On Nine’s Footy Classified on Tuesday, co-host Craig Hutchison suggested Darcy could easily make the move into politics.

“We read today there’s a prospect of Luke walking away from media and we wish him well if that’s the case,” Hutchison began.

“He has been a Liberal Party target in the past. I think he’d be an awesome Liberal leader in Victoria. I wonder if they make the move and go and woo him.”

Cornes immediately replied: “I just became a Labor voter.”

The comment left the panel in stitches, and Hutchison said: “I think you might be 1-nil up on the argument so far.”

Cornes replied: “I think it might be 3-nil.”

Watch Cornes’ cheeky comment in the video player above.

Kane Cornes couldn't resist another jab at Luke Darcy. Photo: X.

Darcy is quitting the footy media industry. Photo: Michael Klein.

That’s in reference to the feud between Cornes and Darcy that has resulted in a series of spicy on-air controversies this year.

In April this year, Darcy confronted Cornes during a live Triple M radio segment, infamously labelling the former Port Adelaide midfielder “more mean spirited and nasty to people than anyone in the history of our industry”.

Channel 9 commentator Kane Cornes is joining Seven in 2025.

Wilson was among those that defended Cornes after the attack and felt Darcy was out of line.

The fact Cornes was then joining Darcy at Seven led to some mostly good-natured ribbing among Cornes’ colleagues at Nine about tension between the pair.

The two had apparently cleared the air, to some extent, with Cornes recalling an incident on radio just last week where they had crossed paths at a Friday night footy game and acted cordially, with Cornes saying Darcy happily passed him some milk for a cup of tea.

But even that exchange became awkward, as Cornes had called in to Triple M from an Uber ride after Darcy brought up an incident between the ex-Power star and an industry colleague that had resulted in Cornes using the vulgar language.

Darcy took great delight in challenging his colleagues Damian Barrett and Nathan Brown that Cornes had asked them not to talk about the encounter he had with Dylan Leach, who works with betting company Neds.

Channel 7 launched a raid on Footy Classified commentators Caroline Wilson, Craig Hutchison and Kane Cornes. Picture: Channel 9

Darcy then topped off an awkward on-air period by dropping the news last Friday that Channel 7 sport presenter Tim Watson was finishing up at the network.

The former Bulldog then tried desperately to backtrack from the news and change the subject.

“That may have been an off-air conversation,” Darcy said.

“Let’s forget that part … let’s forget that …. we are going to move on from that part.”

Later in the segment he showed further regret.

“I am getting wave off everywhere here,” he said.

“Sorry ‘Whispy’ (Watson), one of the most loved people at Channel 7.”

It’s unclear whether all this recent drama had any impact on Darcy’s decision to leave the industry.

Originally published as ‘3-0’: Kane Cornes’ fresh Luke Darcy slap after retirement news