Mark Robinson on Kane Cornes’ take-down of Trent Cotchin and ‘bullying’ in the media

Kane Cornes has the knowledge to be one of footy’s best analysts. But as MARK ROBINSON writes, this time the outspoken TV and radio personality went too far and played the bully.

Kane Cornes wears many hats in the media as an inquisitive, insightful and thorough football analyst.

Right now, though, he’s wearing the class clown hat. And it fits perfectly.

His take-down of Trent Cotchin last Sunday, he said, was nothing but an attempt to take the piss out of Cotchin and Channel 7.

When Matthew Richardson defended Cotchin on social media, Cornes accused Richo of being too sensitive.

It’s a narcissistic response: Be the provocateur and then be critical of the person calling it out.

A cheap laugh at somebody’s expense and it’s a form of bullying.

Taking the piss out of 2 AFL premiership captains. Bar getting lower and lower.

— Matthew Richardson (@mattricho0) March 24, 2024

It was Triple M’s playbook as well. They’d mock someone and when that someone responded, they’d get all uppity and fire back when they had started the fight in the first place.

Bullying is an ugly word.

At schools, parents and teachers spend far too much time trying to protect the vulnerable and educate their tormentors. Bullying is expected from kids and adolescents, because their brains are not yet fully developed.

But from a 41-year-old man with a high profile on Channel 9?

A screen shot from Kane Cornes’ take down of Trent Cotchin.

Not to mention a backdrop of sniggering panellists, acting like the cool kids at the back of the class while one their mates sets fire to someone’s hair. Oh, Nine should be so proud.

Those same people will likely say “hello” to Cotchin next time they see him at the footy. And act all friendly and innocent, without their sniggering gang, of course.

They should apologise to Cotchin, instead.

The Nine boys are clearly great mates and “taking the piss” out of each other – and it’s often high-quality humour – in their own domain is the difference. What they don’t comprehend is that it’s not a defence when “taking the piss” out of someone else.

Kane Cornes on Channel 9’s Sunday Footy Show.

Cotchin can fight his own battles, that’s if he even cares. He showed that as skipper through one of the greatest periods in Richmond’s history, where respect was earned and given.

The young Seven staffer who compiled the social media post – which didn’t go to air – is probably less resilient and likely to be disheartened by the fallout.

Maybe Cornes was responding to Cotchin’s clip of him made a couple of weeks back, when Cotchin said Cornes was still salty because the Tigers beat him in his 300th game.

Maybe Cornes just felt like being a smart-arse.

The media as a collective doesn’t miss. Newspapers, TV and radio drench the landscape with previews and reviews, hot-takes and the outlandish.

One TV segment this week was critical of Collingwood coach Craig McRae because he spoke about himself after the St Kilda game and didn’t praise the Saints.

Coaches have a habit of protecting their players in this world of mass media saturation and condemnation, and even that drew criticism. McRae’s old coach Leigh Matthews thought it was ridiculous that McRae apologised for ignoring the Saints.

As Richo said, the bar is “getting lower and lower’’.

Joel Selwood, James Brayshaw, Tim Watson and Trent Cotchin appear on Talking Footy.

For sure, Cornes is a garish personality and his football opinions help drive clicks and debate.

Although he is heavy on provocation for what he perceives as mistakes and failings from coaches and players, his knowledge of the game is top shelf.

And, with a 300-game career supporting him, he has the credentials and confidence to be considered one of the big voices in commentary, if not the biggest.

People say they dislike him, but those same people probably crave what he says. It’s because he pricks people’s emotions and, because of that, he’s good for the game.

Seven’s rebooted show Talking Footy, which is hosted by James Brayshaw and has Cotchin, Joel Selwood and Tim Watson as panel members, is a work in progress.

It is far more analytical, and thus not as lively and bouncy as the Sunday Footy Show. And being, what, 10 shows old, it’s trying to find its comfortable groove.

Cotchin, who retired from playing at the end of last year, is knowledgeable and a work in progress. As is Selwood, who is making a fist of it in his first regular TV gig. Just as Cornes was a work in progress when he first dipped his toe into television.

Cornes is one of footy media’s most outspoken voices. Picture SARAH REED

Cornes has since added his schtick to the role. One SEN mainstay once likened him to the great Lou Richards, in that he says stuff that he doesn’t really believe, but says it anyway to set free the lunatics. That might be true, but it must be said, Cornes is also a serious analyst.

He got the Cotchin piss-take wrong. It was a juvenile assassination.

True, everyone in the football media has said or written something that, at the time, seemed funny or informed, only to wish they had their time again.

My hand is high in the air. At those times, you need your coat pulled.

Cornes might think he didn’t overstep and that’s fine. And he’ll probably think this column is also an over-reaction. That’s fine, too.

But cheap shots disguised as “harmless fun” are so Sammy Newman.

Let’s hope Cornes’s 17-year-old son, Eddy, who has launched his own sports podcast, as revealed in the Adelaide Advertiser, is spared the same sort of ridicule.

Good luck to the lad by the way. Despite the old man letting himself down this time, Eddy is fortunate to have big shoes to follow.