Inside the battle to be the loudest voice in AFL media – and the question everyone in the industry is asking

The battle to be the loudest voice in the AFL media has become an arms race – and there’s a clear leader. But insiders are starting to ask big questions. SCOTT GULLAN looks for the answers.

“There is so much content that everyone feels like they need to scream a bit louder.”

Welcome to the changing face of the AFL media landscape in 2025 where the battle to be the loudest voice in town has become an arms race.

Never before has there been so many shows, so many podcasts and so many outlets for commentators and ex-footballers to bang their drum.

The loudest drummer by far is Kane Cornes, the former Port Adelaide 300-gamer who has been building to this moment for several years and now has multiple prime-time platforms to do his shouting.

If you don’t catch him on Ch 7, you will hear him on SEN or popping up on afl.com with the odd betting company promotion thrown in for good measure.

Not far behind him is his Agenda Setters teammate Nick Riewoldt who has come back from two years living in America with a US mindset of big, loud opinions.

Kane Cornes is leading the race to be the loudest voice in footy media. Picture: Michael Klein

Can Cornes become the Stephen A. Smith of Australia? Picture: Holmes/Getty Images

“There is so much content that everything washes through so quickly, so what is your point of difference?” one industry expert said.

“Kane has been a point of difference and Nick has come back and gone bang, bang, bang.

“The issue with there being a lot of it, it becomes less meaningful because there is so much noise.”

The question being asked, particularly when it comes to Cornes, is about whether this style is sustainable? Can Cornes become the Stephen A. Smith of Australia?

That’s his dream. Smith, who is the face of ESPN – where he signed a five-year, $100 million USD contract in March – and the most controversial commentator in the States, is currently involved in a public spat with the NBA’s biggest star LeBron James.

But are the AFL clubs and its players ready for such drum beating?

“We’re not America and the federal election showed that,” one club official said.

“The notion that we are wired like Americans is actually wrong.”

“My view is he (Cornes) will flame out unless he moderates himself. I think he has a chance to be a really strong considered voice in the game but he’s choosing to be a sensationalist.”

Nick Riewoldt has also returned to the AFL media landscape breathing fire. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos

Half-way through the season Cornes has already been banned from two clubs. His crack at North Melbourne young gun Harry Sheezel was the final straw for the Kangaroos who told Ch 7 he wasn’t welcome while last week he had a pre-game run-in with Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.

What can’t be denied is Cornes has done his job for his new boss Chris Jones who poached him from Ch 9 to the free-to-air broadcaster over the summer.

Jones had a licence to shake things up given how “vanilla” Seven had been with its footy shows and the luring of Cornes, Caroline Wilson and Craig Hutchison from Footy Classified was a genius move.

Throw in the return of Riewoldt, who had blazed a promising trail at Fox Footy before uprooting and moving his family to the States, and Seven has gone from boiled lollies to chocolates in terms of having voices in the weekly footy debate.

“His (Jones) stance was if you’re going to do shows, you have got to do shows that will move the needle, will rate and make some noise,” a Seven insider said.

“There is a clear direction not to be personal but to absolutely have an opinion, take a position but that should always be backed up with facts and figures.

“They also had to put a bit more colour into the footy coverage and he was adamant they had to have a seven day a week offering.”

It’s understood Cornes’ blow-up with Beveridge – he was just saying hello to the Bulldogs coach – before last Thursday night’s Geelong-Bulldogs clash didn’t go down well at Seven headquarters.While the beef between Beveridge and Cornes had started long before he joined Seven and the network didn’t blame him for the incident, one of Jones’ mantras has been that the games are times to “hero” the players and that commentators shouldn’t be “injecting themselves” into the narrative.

Ironically Riewoldt can be seen trying to call Cornes back from Beveridge during the incident.

The former St Kilda great has become a constant critic of the AFL on his Triple M breakfast show with Mick Molloy. He has consistently attacked football boss Laura Kane about the state of the game and called out AFL players for “taking the piss” over hiding behind mental health.

The critics of Cornes and Riewoldt point to their obvious bias on certain issues. For Cornes his love of Port’s Jason Horne-Francis at times clouds his assessment of other players while Riewoldt’s support for his former coach Ross Lyon amuses other clubs.

Pushing back on commentators by clubs is becoming more regular around the world. Last week EPL club Nottingham Forest banned Sky Sports commentator, former Manchester United captain Gary Neville, from commentating one of their games.

Forest informed Sky that Neville would be denied access to their stadium because of his recent criticism of the club.

Whether current AFL players are engaging in all the commentary is debatable. Many tune out, some laugh it off while there are others who keep receipts.

They would often make it out they’re not listening to all the outrage but when Cornes criticised Richmond coach Adem Yze for lacking aura, his players made it known in no uncertain terms they weren’t happy about the comments.

With Monday and Tuesday nights now a TV war between Seven, Nine and Fox Footy, there is a feeling footy fans may tire of being bombarded from all angles.

The way media is being consumed has also changed. Many prefer to match clips of the main headline-grabbing moments of Footy Classified and The Agenda Setters on X and Instagram rather than take in the full shows.

Taking pot shots at one another is becoming more prevalent particularly given Seven goes first with The Agenda Setters at 7pm on its streaming service which often means Footy Classified will start its show around 10pm by debunking something which had been on its rival.

“Previously all the petrol happened on Monday, that’s when all the shows were on but now it’s extended over two nights and the second night is really searching for content,” the industry expert said.

“The weekend is somewhat done by Monday night so Tuesday nights turn into broader issues and more manufactured outrage because the whole thing is about screaming louder.”

Originally published as Inside the battle to be the loudest voice in AFL media – and the question everyone in the industry is asking