Kane Cornes admits to filthy message, attempted cover-up

The AFL commentator called an industry colleague a disgusting name and asked his mates in the media to keep it quiet.

Kane Cornes has been forced to admit he called an industry colleague the C-word to his face in an aggressive exchange after being exposed by a pair of rivals at Triple M.

AFL figures Luke Darcy and Dale Thomas have at-times had testy relationships with the former Port Adelaide midfielder-turned-media star and were determined to air Cornes’ dirty laundry on Triple M radio on Friday night.

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On the Friday Huddle - which also featured fellow ex-player Nathan Brown and journalists Damian Barrett and Mark Howard - Darcy began pressing Brown and Barrett to break the news of a recent run-in where Cornes had “abused someone in the most horrific style”.

“He needs to apologise for that,” Darcy said. “I’m assuming he will, come out and apologise. Have you two been asked not to talk about this?”

Brown and Barrett remained tight-lipped and Howard also refused to weigh in, stating the situation was a private topic.

It was only when Cornes - who had been listening to the discussion while travelling in an Uber - rang-in to the show that his version of the incident was revealed.

Kane Cornes has admitted to giving an industry colleague a clip.

“You’ve added a fair amount of mayonnaise so I thought I’d clear up what actually happened today,” Cornes said.

“I’ll tell you exactly what happened and I don’t regret a minute of it.”

Cornes revealed the target of his ire was Dylan Leach, who works for betting company Neds and has been dogged in his criticism of Cornes on social media.

“Dylan Leach was in the SEN studios, I’ve never met Dylan, I’ve had some correspondence online with him and he’s been incredibly critical of me online,” Cornes said.

“I thought if I ever see that guy, I’m going to ask him if he’s prepared to say what he said online to my face.

“So that’s exactly what I did … I said ‘Dylan are you prepared to say what you’ve been saying online to my face?’

“He walked over and said ‘Kane, great to meet you’ and I just said ‘don’t be a C and be very careful’ and walked out of the studio. That’s the exact truth of it.”

Cornes also admitted he’d texted Brown and Barrett - who are colleagues of his at Channel 9 - asking them not to talk about it on-air.

Dylan Leach copped it from Kane Cornes.

“Are you doing this tonight, be handy for me if you didn’t,” Cornes wrote to them in a message.

His conversation with the Triple M crew finished with another testy exchange with Thomas, again showing there is no love lost between the pair.

But the ice may be melting somewhat with Darcy after the former Bulldogs ruckman ambushed Cornes on-air earlier this season.

On Friday night the pair confirmed they had bumped into each other at the footy last weekend while fulfilling their media duties and Darcy had obliged when Cornes asked if he could pass him some milk for a cup of tea.

Leach tagged Triple M and Cornes in a post on X after the story went to air, writing: “It’s been an eventful day. Peace and love.”