Time On: Sonja Hood quits X over abusive fans
North Melbourne president Sonja Hood has quit X following a torrent of abuse over the weekend, calling the attacks personal and revolting.
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North Melbourne president Dr Sonja Hood has been forced to delete her X account after copping a torrent of abuse.
Hood, who regularly interacts with fans on the social media platform, said the abuse had been “revolting”.
A source said some of the abuse had come from North Melbourne supporters relating to the club’s performance.
Commentator Kane Cornes has previously called out Hood’s posts while sitting with the club’s cheer squad at games, saying they were embarrassing.
Hood said it had nothing to do with that criticism.
“The banter I have with Kane is good fun and good natured,” she told Channel 9.
“But the stuff I copped on the weekend, which wasn’t related to Kane, was out of line and revolting … and I don’t feel the need to be part of that world.”
While some fans on Twitter have taken aim at Hood, others supporters consider Hood a breath of fresh air in the way she has connected and communicated with fans.
Ginnivan bristles at ‘humble’ jibe
Hawthorn recruit Jack Ginnivan has revealed more details about his exit meeting with Collingwood Craig McRae.
Ginnivan, who previously described it as eye opening, said the coach spoke to him about being humble and criticised him for his goalless, seven-touch Grand Final performance.
“It was a difficult exit meeting to hear,” Ginnivan told Seven’s Talking Footy on Wednesday night.
“Sort of words of not being humble, which I took to heart a bit because I think I’m a pretty humble person.
“When you hear things like that from your ex-coach, it becomes a bit of writing on the wall.
“It was a pretty short (conversation), about 10 minutes and obviously I didn’t play my best game in the Grand Final. It was a hard preparation for me, I played one (full) game in five weeks so obviously (he said) things about that I didn’t play that well.
“I thought my preparation couldn’t have been any better, I was just unlucky with three sub-games as well (in Round 22, the Qualifying Final and Preliminary Final).”
AFL told ‘enough is enough’
Social media personality Scott O’Halloran has called on the AFL to stamp out homophobia, saying no player will ever come out in the current environment.
O’Halloran, of Luke and Sassy Scott fame, said the toll on mental health was too great when incidents like those involving Alastair Clarkson and Jeremy Finlayson kept arising.
“The toll outweighs these small fines,” O’Halloran said.
“There has been never been a gay AFL player that has come out of the closet and I wonder why. It comes from the top down, this homophobia needs to stop.
“The AFL has a huge problem on their hands. It is a very large organisation and all players are practically on notice when it comes to racial and homophobic discrimination (sledging) and it would not fly in any other organisation in Australia. You would be terminated, especially being on notice. Why do they get an exemption?
“They (players, clubs and the AFL) are professionals who have so much resources at their disposal … it’s a systematic problem from the top. I would have liked to see (CEO) Andrew Dillon make a stance yesterday however he chose to not. That speaks volumes.
“Enough is enough, week in and week out I’m sick of hearing all these things.”
Dwayne Russell branching out from footy
Footy broadcaster Dwayne Russell has put a call out of a different kind — in search of a publisher for his first fiction novel.
Russell, a media veteran of 35 years, has penned a mystery thriller titled 36 Red which he said is about art fraud, despite the title’s roulette/gambling reference.
“I wrote a couple of kids books a fair while ago so it’s been a passion of mine for about 14 or 15 years and it’s finally at a stage where it’s publishable,’’ he said of the novel.
“Art is a bit of a side knowledge genre because I married into a family that has a few artists. I think it’s got a lot of tentacles to the story and I’d love a publisher to take it on.”
Russell, who calls matches on Fox Footy and hosts SEN afternoons, is one of the game’s most respected callers.
‘Pathetic’ attack on Cornes called out
The fallout from Luke Darcy’s crack at Kane Cornes continues with Caroline Wilson labelling him “weak” and “pathetic” for launching the radio confrontation.
Darcy, a Bulldogs club director and Channel 7 footy commentator, confronted Cornes on Triple M during Gather Round.
The lighthearted interview began with questions about Nathan Brown’s boxing win over the former Port Adelaide tagger on Wednesday night.
However, it turned frosty when Darcy asked Cornes about being “more mean-spirited and nasty to people than anyone in the history of our industry”.
The question took his Triple M colleagues by surprise and also forced Cornes to defend himself against Darcy’s claims that he looked sad and was similar to polarising figures like Piers Morgan and Steve Price.
On Footy Classified on Monday Wilson went in to bat for her colleague.
“Kane doesn’t need my defending him but to completely attack someone’s career as transactional and then say I’m not up for the debate, is just quite weak in my view and I don’t think it reflected well on Luke, and if it is to do with the Western Bulldogs as well.
“It was one of the nastier and more mean spirited attacks I’ve witnessed between footy media, and that’s on Luke not Kane.
“How pathetic and a bit rich given Luke has sat beside some of the worst attacks on the Footy Show and Triple M too.”
Eddie McGuire defended Darcy, saying it came from “a good place”.
“Darce is a very deep thinker and he is as empathetic a person as I’ve met,’’ McGuire said.
“He’s gone into that area a lot more with his meditation. And Darce probably looked at him and thought there’s a guy who is torturing himself mentally, physically, emotionally, to have this position. I genuinely think he was reaching out. If you actually watch him you can see the cogs going around in Darce’s mind … he’s leant into this, probably too far into it and he sounded like he was being mean spirited but it probably came from a good place.”
Wayne Carey said he felt Darcy was looking out for his Channel 7 colleagues, namely Trent Cotchin, who was mocked by Cornes.
Cornes mocked the Richmond premiership captain by mimicking a TikTok clip from the Channel 7 Sport account that showed Cotchin analysing a piece of play.
The clip prompted footy media figures to trade verbal barbs.
Duck gets wet at Gather Round
Wayne Carey has fallen off the wagon and he’s blaming Gather Round.
After more than five weeks without a drink, Carey said someone slipped some alcohol into his glass while he enjoyed a few days away in Adelaide.
“I’m not throwing anyone under the bus but someone gave me a soda water that had something more than soda water in it,’’ he said on The Truth Hurts podcast.
“So I had a couple. I felt disappointed because I’d gone that far, five and a half weeks, then it was broken. I’m back off it and I’ll keep staying off it.”
Carey was in Adelaide from Wednesday to Friday and heaped praise on the round.
“We were amongst Gather Round for the first few days. It is an unbelievable event … everything about it was sensational. The place was abuzz.”
Daicos in demand
Peter Daicos says his son Josh, the Collingwood best and fairest winner, had several clubs interested in him before signing a long-term deal with the club.
“Collingwood signed him on a six-year deal but a player will always sign a long term deal, especially if it’s a good deal,’’ Daicos said on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!.
“He could have probably tested the market and got more money, there was interest from clubs that were really keen on him so if he didn’t make it at Collingwood there was always someone willing to give him a run.
“But he stuck at it, I used to say exaggerate your existence. So they’ve got to see you doing the extra work. You be the first on and last off, day off go in and make sure the coaches see you there, walk past their office.”
Hutchy goes missing from Gather Round
Every big name in footy was at Gather Round in Adelaide. But one person conspicuous by their absence was SEN boss Craig Hutchison.
Hutchison was front and centre during the round’s debut last year in South Australia but this time he wasn’t in the country having ventured to Spain for McDonald’s annual convention.
SEN has enjoyed a long-term commercial partnership with the fast food chain.
Hutchison was also missing from his Saturday morning show Off the Bench, with Nick Butler stepping in to co-host alongside Liam Pickering.
Pepsi Collective woos A-listers
Adelaide Oval was pumping all weekend and on Sunday night there was one particular place to be.
The Pepsi Collective activation, set up behind the goals, gave punters a nice vantage point plus an area full of bars, food outlets, tunes and the premiership cup roaming the room.
Seen there ahead of the Collingwood-Hawthorn match were Australian cricketer Alex Carey and AFL legend Gavin Wanganeen with over 17,000 through their doors across the round.
After the game the Gather Live concert outside the ground was pumping with Jet and Baker Boy, as well as Port’s Aliir Aliir and Adelaide’s Josh Rachele hitting the DJ decks.
‘Complete debacle’: Brayshaw
If James Brayshaw has his way, the Channel 7 on ground broadcast desk will never again be located near the team banners.
Not once, but twice, the panel was engulfed by smoke as the machines fired up pre-game for the Gather Round extravaganza on Friday night and Saturday night.
“I got caught in a pyrotechnic storm, I’ve stuffed my lungs, my eyes,” host and commentator Brayshaw said.
“I’m sitting on a hosting desk, the pyrotechnics blew up and landed on me. We were spluttering, it was a complete debacle. None of us could breathe, none of us could speak
“Richo thought he was back in a nightclub.
“Every production meeting with Seven I say to them, ‘where are you placing us?’. Last year they had the Indigenous Round and they lit a whole lot of gum trees and the smoke was in our faces.”
Richo posted on X: “Not everything is grouse at #gatherround. Feel like I’ve been hanging out with Cheech and Chong for a week.”
Tom Morris upbeat after snub
Good to hear Tom Morris thoroughly enjoyed himself at Gather Round despite a hiccup to the start of his week.
As we reported on Thursday, Morris thought he’d been invited to the official AFL Welcome Dinner on Wednesday night but it wasn’t the case and he was surprised that his name was nowhere to be found.
“I got rejected from the AFL function,’’ he said on SEN.
“I thought I was on the list, I wasn’t. I got to go to the boxing and had a good night anyway. Hopefully I’ll get invited to the next AFL function.”
On Footy Furnace Sunday night he added: “I love Adelaide, I had a great week.”
Chua gets thumbs up
The plaudits have come thick and fast for Matt Hill’s commentary cameos on Fox Footy and on Sunday they came for another new face — Triple M’s statesman turned commentator Ash Chua.
Chua made his debut in the box during the Gold Coast and GWS match and it left many impressed.
“Thanks for the round of applause,’’ a hesitant Chua said when he joined the Sunday Rub before the game.
He did a practice call during the Carlton-Brisbane game earlier in the season.
“Chu sounded great and he’s one of our favourites, that’s why we’re so excited for him,’’ said Leigh Montagna.
“We’re friendly now, we’ll give you shit after the game.”
Soldo fans taunt Richmond
There’s always a risk when Brian Taylor is roaming live in the winners’ rooms after a game.
The aftermath to Port Adelaide’s win over Essendon produced some gold when BT went up to ruckman Ivan Soldo.
His brother, partner and friends clearly enjoyed the night and watching his good form. When BT asked one of the ladies what she thought of his game, the reply was a clip to Soldo’s former club Richmond.
“What do you reckon now Richmond?” she said, as Soldo appeared to try to quieten her down.
BT quickly realised they were a bit loose and made his way off.
Cornes media juggernaut
There’s been so much talk about Kane Cornes but some say his better half, wife Lucy Cornes, could almost upstage him as a media performer.
Lucy appeared on Tuesday night’s Gather Round Spectacular on Channel 9 and interviewed some players with calm and poise. We hear producers would have no issue using her as talent again.
There’s already another person in the family following in Kane’s media footsteps and offering competition with their son Eddy starting a podcast.
‘Didn’t need to break bread’: How Thomas, Cornes mended ‘f***wit’ sledge
Dale Thomas and Kane Cornes are back on the same page ahead of their joint TV debut, following a back and forth that descended into name-calling.
Aussie tennis ace Kokkinakis moves on with top model
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