Everything you missed on TV from Monday night
Even if the Kangaroos open their doors back up to Kane Cornes, he might not walk in. Plus Leigh Matthews fires up, reaction to the Gawn-May clash and more of what you missed on TV.
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Coming off the King’s Birthday nailbiter, it was almost as big of a night on the footy shows.
Each show leapt on the late altercation between Melbourne teammates Max Gawn and Steven May, while Kane Cornes took a new stand on his North Melbourne ban and Leigh Matthews came out firing on an armchair.
Catch up on what you missed right here.
GAWN v MAY
Producers leading Monday’s footy shows perked up big time when Gawn and May were shown in their on-field altercation near the end of the thrilling clash between the Dees and Pies.
Melbourne great Garry Lyon told AFL 360: “This is what happens when you invest in a game of footy for two hours and it comes down to moments … I don’t know what he (May) said but it clearly didn’t resonate and Max has reacted totally reasonably”.
The Agenda Setters played vision captured from a goal post camera of the Melbourne pair, showing May went back for a second serve to his captain.
Nick Riewoldt wondered whether all the pressure Gawn has dealt with over the last 18 months had become “a tipping point for Max. I think he has carried such a great load for so long”.
An ex-Melbourne teammate, Jordan Lewis told On The Couch the incident was “two players in the heat of the moment and two players who respect and love each other. It would have already been dealt with”.
AGENDA SETTERS
On 7’s big desk, Kane Cornes and the Agenda Setters panel seemed more than happy to go back to the story of whether footy’s shock jock will be welcome in the North Melbourne rooms.
And this time, Cornes jumped first, to say he probably wouldn’t want to go in there anyway.
Cornes was banned by the Roos earlier this year following comments around young star Harry Sheezel and would next be in line to go to the North rooms in round 17, when the club hosts its 100th birthday celebration game on a Thursday night.
But Kane won’t be blowing out the candles.
“They can stick up for their club, as I have said a number of times,” he said.
“It is probably better that I don’t go into their rooms, to be completely honest, it would be awkward … on this occasion it is probably best we leave it.”
Cornes did have a compliment of sorts for the Roos and their handling of Sheezel, she he said he was “glad” coach Alastair Clarkson “realised” midfield-forward was the young gun’s best spot.
Cornes took a break last week from the show, with host Craig Hutchison getting an early jab in when he introduced him as being “rostered on” this week.
Earlier, Bulldog forward Aaron Naughton was labelled “a tease” by key forward champion Nick Riewoldt as he continues to battle for form.
The Saints great said Naughton was the third best key forward on his team, behind injured star Sam Darcy and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, who is on personal leave.
Cornes was happy to replace Naughton with the Dogs’ interchange steward who took a one-handed mark on the weekend, in what we think was a joke.
And the huge desk all had a crack at getting Collingwood great Scott Pendlebury to commit to another year as he spoke from the rooms following the win over Melbourne.
Pendlebury, one of the Pies’ best on Monday, is off contract at the end of this year and closing in on Brent Harvey’s record for the most games in VFL/AFL history.
He said he hadn’t thought about a new contract yet but when coaxed said: “If you’re the list manager Hutchy and you are going to give me a deal I wouldn’t say no”.
Perhaps actual list boss Justin Leppitsch should get Hutchison in as an intern.
ON THE COUCH
They pushed the two couches out a little in footy’s loungeroom, with an armchair/throne brought in between them for Leigh Matthews’ monthly visit.
‘Lethal’ was clearly comfortable and ready to go.
He was grumpy about wrestling rucks and the loss of the leaping rucks of years gone by.
Matthews said Essendon’s Sam Durham was “lucky” to get a two-match ban for his crude bump on Adam Cerra and pondered whether the Lions had a “healthy fear of failure” and “get in front and think ‘we’re going to win now’”.
He also wondered how Ken Hinkley was “keeping his sanity” as he coached his way to the end during the Port Adelaide handover plan.
“Living in the moment is something they are not conquering,” Matthews said.
“Having a coach who knows he is in his last year, in his last half-season, certainly doesn’t help that.”
But he saved his best for Jack Ginnivan, labelling the cheeky Hawk a “smart-arse” for taunting the Bulldogs on Thursday as part of On The Couch’s Good, Bad, Ugly segment.
Matthews certainly wouldn’t be the first to call him that.
“When you show the ball to the opposition and you taunt them as you are running into goal, that is the ugly. The bad was he didn’t drop the ball. I wish he dropped the ball,” Matthews said.
“That is a total act of being a smart-arse.”
One of the couch regulars, Jonathan Brown delivered a solution to the lethargic bye rounds with a new name.
Forget Opening Round, Browny wants ‘Northern Round’.
The Brisbane great’s vision would replace the five weeks of byes with just two weekends, a partial bye in round 15, then a mid-season version of Opening Round, in which the northern four teams host matches as a mini Gather Round in round 16.
Confused about those round names? Me too.
AFL 360
The two coaches were dragged upstairs to sit on level four at the MCG and fight off the cold on the 360 desk and dissect the King’s Birthday thriller.
Simon Goodwin was up first.
After the obligatory May-Gawn question, he was presented with the horror footage of Bayley Fritsch taking a rushed shot at goal late in the fourth quarter as a teammate ran into the goalsquare, a shocking error that saw the Dees lose another close game.
The coach said Fritsch just wasn’t calm enough.
“They are the type of moments we just have to get better at in these tight games,” Goodwin said.
“We execute that a little bit better, we probably go on to win the game.”
Goodwin noted a shift in umpiring in the second half as Ed Langdon’s tight tag on Nick Daicos was clamped down on, with free kicks paid for holding.
“It was certainly pretty clear post half-time early they were watching some of the holding around the ball,” he said.
“I don’t know what transpires in those breaks with the umpires and what they discuss. Hopefully they do it for every player.”
And once again, Goodwin said his forward half was “a work in progress” after winning the inside-50 count by 9 and losing the game, a story Dees fans know all too well.
Pies coach Craig McRae sidled up to the spare chair after Goodwin, as the seagulls took over the MCG surface behind him.
He revealed a tweak in pre-season training may have helped veterans Jeremy Howe, Steele Sidebottom, Scott Pendlebury and Jaime Elliott have superb seasons thus far.
“They all had a great pre-season. We were really deliberate in doing fundamentals around those guys and doing extras because we didn’t think they touched enough of the footy before January,” he said.
FOOTY CLASSIFIED
You didn’t miss this one, no Footy Class on Monday, as Channel 9 put its sport heft behind the national swimming trials instead.
Matrix Reloaded played on 9GO, if you were keen on revisiting that.
And The Madame Blanc Mysteries was on 9GEM, with Uncle Patrick in trouble over a gambling debt.
Not quite as much drama as at the MCG, but maybe close.
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