Kane Cornes, Luke Beveridge caught in pre-match ‘confrontation’

The list of clubs that won’t deal with Kane Cornes is growing, with Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge confronting him on Thursday night.

The list of AFL clubs that won’t deal with Kane Cornes is growing after Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge had some choice words for the Channel 7 commentator before their loss to Geelong on Thursday night.

On a night when Geelong star Bailey Smith’s first clash with his old Bulldogs teammates was expected to lead the headlines, Cornes’ pre-match clash with Beveridge became a talking point.

In a seesawing contest, the Cats finished strongly to record a 20.7 (127) to 16.17 (113) victory over the wasteful Dogs.

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But just weeks after Cornes was banned from North Melbourne over his commentary about some Kangaroo players and the club, the Western Bulldogs followed suit before Thursday’s game.

Just as with North, Cornes has been outspoken with his criticism of the Bulldogs and particularly whether the off-contract Beveridge is the right man to lead the club forward.

The two feisty characters came together before Thursday night’s game in a heated moment on the boundary line.

“There was a bit of an altercation with Bevo tonight,” Rebecca Maddern began on the Channel 7 coverage.

Watch the altercation in the video player above

The list of clubs that won’t deal with Kane Cornes is growing. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)

“We can see you’re just on the ground there and Bevo says something to you and you try to say something back.

“Can you just talk us through that.”

Cornes replied: “There was a confrontation, there was some words spoken, but look he’s combative and they do like to protect their players.

“I don’t have an issue with it, it’s a big game of footy, and clearly the relationship between myself and the Western Bulldogs isn’t a strong one.”

Asked if he felt Beveridge went out of his way to confront him, Cornes said: “Oh, not so much.

“It was an awkward situation because he was staring at me quite strongly and I didn’t really know what to say.

Luke Beveridge confronts Cornes on Thursday night. Photo: Channel 7

“So I just said ‘g’day Bevo’ and it wasn’t received that well as you can see there in the vision.

“I would’ve liked to have gone on with the conversation and had it respectfully but it wasn’t the time or the place.”

It’s unclear from the vision who started the altercation, although it appears Beveridge first had words for Cornes as he walked past him.

After Cornes replied, Beveridge opted to stop walking, stand his ground and continue the conversation.

It was over in seconds and Nick Riewoldt is seen imploring Cornes to walk away.

Fox Sports, which shares the AFL broadcasting rights with the Seven Network, discussed the incident at halftime of the match at GMHBA Stadium.

“The Western Bulldogs’ relationship with Channel 7 has plunged to new lows after a confrontation pre-match between Beveridge and commentator Kane Cornes,” Jon Ralph said.

“Cornes was already banned from the Dogs rooms after a series of negative articles and comments in regard to Beveridge that the club believes are personal.

“As Beveridge walks to a Fox interview with Cam Mooney, you can see that words were exchanged between Cornes and Beveridge.

“Beveridge let fly with some expletives, people around the situation felt like Cornes stepped into his space and they’re thankful Beveridge did walk on.

Alastair Clarkson and the Kangaroos have also refused to work with Cornes. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“The question here would be whether this was deliberately disrespectful and antagonistic, whether it was the time and the space for Cornes to talk to Beveridge.

“Beveridge would feel like potentially he had been specifically baited by someone that his club had already banned with the Seven cameras rolling.”

Footy greats Leigh Montagna and David King were then asked about the scenario.

“It’s not a good look, is it?” Montagna said.

“You’ve got two people that don’t like each other and these sorts of things can happen.

“But I don’t think I’d be engaging if I was commentating with a coach like that.”

King, who works with Cornes on SEN Radio, added: “This is what Kane does. This is his schtick, this is what he does and I think there are no winners.

“It makes two I think intelligent people look really foolish.”

Bailey Smith (left) was facing his old club for the first time. Picture: Michael Klein

Late last month, the Kangaroos made the extraordinary move of announcing they would refuse to engage with Cornes after the club accused the polarising media personality of “bullying behaviour” and “vindictive attacks” on the club and its players.

Kangaroos football boss Todd Viney criticised Cornes’ media commentary at a press conference on April 30, revealing the club had declined a request for Cornes to be part of an interview with coach Alastair Clarkson for their game against Essendon.

Cornes said on the night of the game he didn’t feel he had any reason to be concerned about his critique of the players, but did concede he would back off if he became aware a player had been “mentally affected” by his commentary.

Cornes speaking after he was banned from the North Melbourne rooms. Photo: Channel 7

Without going into the details behind his attack, four-time premiership winning coach Clarkson had a stinging rebuke for Cornes.

“They say those that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, so I know a little bit about Kane’s history,” Clarkson told Channel 7.

“Some of the things he was saying about Jy (Simpkin) and ‘Sheez’ (Harry Sheezel), I just think – especially from the host broadcaster and who is covering this game tonight – this isn’t shared across the football world, but I’ve got a view there should be a relatively good balance.

“Particularly when you’re talking about the players, they’re the product of the game, they’re the guys on the field and in the trenches with their mates trying to fight for their side.

“When the line gets crossed, we know that there’s critique in the game, we’ve been copping it for 20 years.

“You know, especially as a coach, when these things happen we just have to cop it on the chin.”

Originally published as Kane Cornes, Luke Beveridge caught in pre-match ‘confrontation’