Brisbane Lions veteran Luke Hodge fires back over criticism of in-game TV interviews from journalist Damian Barrett

Luke Hodge has fired back at criticism of his in-game TV interviews during Thursday night’s Brisbane Lions-Collingwood fixture.

Luke Hodge has hit out at criticism of his in-game interviews on Channel 7. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Pockett.

Luke Hodge has fired back at criticism of his in-game TV interviews during Thursday night’s Brisbane Lions-Collingwood fixture.

The Lions veteran was twice interviewed on the boundary by Channel 7’s Abbey Holmes, chats which were questioned by journalist Damian Barrett.

In his column, Barrett said Hodge ‘might want to rethink’ combining a ‘well-paid media contract with a football one’.

The column led Hodge to tweet his disappointment, denying he was paid for the two sideline chats: ‘What an absolute k***, you think it was a paid gig? Media want players access, the club asked me to do so I did.”

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Hodge and Barrett debated the column on radio today, with the Hawthorn premiership captain saying he did not ‘have a well-paid media contract’ and was not paid for Thursday’s interviews.

“I have not had a contract with a media company since 2012 with Channel 7,” Hodge said.

Hodge said the interviews were intended to provide deeper insight into the blockbuster Easter Thursday game and promote football in Queensland.

“We need to promote AFL in Brisbane as much as any team does,” he said on Triple M.

“We have been up here for a long time, we are slowly starting to build our brand up here, we have got 26,000 members as of last weekend.

“Any time Channel 7 come to anyone … you know being up here AFL isn’t as strong as the other codes.”

Luke Hodge has hit out at criticism of his in-game interviews on Channel 7. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Pockett.

Hodge said he had previously been part of similar interviews during his time with Hawthorn, but felt the criticism had come because Brisbane was heavily beaten.

“What I did that day was exactly the same as what I did on Thursday night,” he said.

“I did two interviews during a rotation and because we won the game, it was a good interview, good insight, everyone was happy with it.”

He said he was disappointed to be portrayed as if he was ‘trying to look after myself to do it.’

Barrett said he got little from in-game interviews with players.

“I have regularly said as a consumer I don’t get anything out of those in-game interviews with players. I feel they hold back,” he said.