What you missed on TV: Hornet’s outburst, Lyon’s spray, coverage of Bevo and more
What really happened between Nick Watson and the Eagles? Do the players agree with the MRO? Did Nick Daicos handle Anzac Day? Find out all the answers in our Monday night TV recap.
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Luke Beveridge is apparently playing the media game better than Albo and Dutton, a bloke with Bomber blood in his veins will be Melbourne’s next CEO, and Kane Cornes has coined 2025’s answer to Hokball: Sheezey Ball.
Ross Lyon’s all-time spray and subsequent post-match press conference split opinion among panellists on The Agenda Setters and Footy Classified, but Jason Horne-Francis has no case to answer.
And is there a race forming for ex-Swans coach John Longmire’s services?
Here is what you missed on Monday night:
‘RATTLED’ DAICOS AND THE WIZ OPEN UP
At the very top of the first ever ‘Players’, host Felix von Hofe says “the footy market, according to everyone, is flooded with TV shows at the moment so I think we’ve fixed the problem and invented another one. But we have the main ingredient that the others seem to be missing and that is the opinion of the players”.
The first guests on Nine’s new show; Collingwood star Nick Daicos, Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron and Hawthorn’s Nick Watson all concede they don’t consume much footy media with the initial discussion around Cameron’s YouTube channel and just how much Watson spends on Fortnite.
When it came to actual footy topics, Daicos captaining the Magpies for the first time in the Anzac Day win over Essendon is first off the bat - with the young star revealing the nerves “rattled” him at the coin toss to an extent that when he ran back to the huddle he didn’t know what way he picked.
Watson’s run-ins with West Coast duo Harley Reid and Jeremy McGovern were next up, with the Hawk joking that he “put a bit of mayo” on a bump from McGovern in the fourth quarter, while his carry on with Reid after chasing him down and tackling him was because they had been mates since they were 12-years-old.
With the chat largely casual, the most serious footy topic discussed by the trio was the three-match ban handed out to North Melbourne’s Paul Curtis for his tackle on Port Adelaide’s Josh Sinn, with Daicos saying he was “not too sure” how to prevent Sinn from being concussed in it.
“It is sort of a traditional chase-down tackle” he said.
Cameron said Curtis “had done everything right” in the tackle.
“In my eyes that is a football action and he deserves to get off,” he said.
Outside of that the three discussed other topics such as fashion in footy, played “phone roulette” with Daicos FaceTiming Pies teammate Isaac Quaynor, brought in items for “show and tell” with Cameron bringing in a rabbit while Brisbane’s Cam Rayner provided a vlog of his day before the Lions took on St Kilda.
HUNT FOR HORSE IS ON
Could John Longmire have his feet under the desk at a different club in 2026?
Sam McClure told Football Classified “at least one club has had high level discussions around his availability”.
McClure would not be drawn on which club that was, but said he would be surprised if it was just one club that considered approaching Longmire.
Tasmania, Carlton, Melbourne and North Melbourne were all name dropped as potential landing spots for the former Sydney coach, who shocked the football world last year by stepping down after 14 seasons at the Swans.
“His record is unbelievable. Twelve finals appearances out of 14 seasons coached. There are teams that would give their left arms for that sort of record,” McClure said.
“This is on now. There is a race that is beginning for John Longmire.”
POWER BULL ‘ON A LEASH’
Port Adelaide is in complete control of star midfielder Jason Horne-Francis despite his fiery demeanour at the weekend.
That according to Cornes, who told The Agenda Setters panel: “They’ve got him on a leash, I feel like they’ve got good control of it. He’s not perfect, they know that, he knows that.”
Riewoldt also went to bat for the Power’s “bull in a china shop”, responding to vision of a free kick paid against Horne-Francis during the North Melbourne match which would have been enough for Riewoldt’s “head to pop off on game day”.
On the vision of Horne-Francis being held back by teammates Connor Rozee and Zak Butters while speaking to coach Ken Hinkley, Riewoldt said: “I don’t mind it. I think it was perfectly handled.”
“Give me a player you have to pull back just a little bit rather than one you have to wind up. We see far too much of having to motivate players … I’ve got no issue with it.”
Wilson believes Port Adelaide will schedule a meeting with the AFL umpiring department this week to discuss the officiating of Horne-Francis, which Hinkley put on the agenda in his post-match presser at the weekend.
The Power might have no problem with their star midfielder, but Cornes says Harry Sheezel’s form now has to be a concern for North Melbourne.
So much so that “Sheezey” briefly became a recognised verb on The Agenda Setters, much to Riewoldt’s chagrin.
“He’s fourth in the comp for disposals yet he is 17th for score involvements – Sheezey Ball is what I’m calling it,” Cornes said to chuckles from his panel members.
“Forget stat-padding. He is getting the Sheezeys. He is not on Arden St, he is on Sheezey St.
“Thirty touches. One score involvement. Now he may be the least of their problems, but I’m telling you, Clarko has to coach this really hard.
“Get him in the front half of the ground and have his disposals be more damaging than that.”
“I reckon you’re being way to harsh,” Riewoldt said.
“Branding it and calling it Sheezey Ball – come on man.
“I reckon he’s the sort of bloke that if he had walked through the door at Port Adelaide, you would have loved the way he goes about it, how professional he is.”
DEMONS’ NEW CEO
Wilson said it was her belief that Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra would become Melbourne’s next CEO.
On Monday night, this masthead revealed Guerra’s appointment has been ratified by the Melbourne board and that he would fill the void vacated by Gary Pert.
Wilson, who linked Guerra to the Essendon CEO role in 2022, labelled the incoming Demons’ boss “a big Essendon man” though “not anymore if he gets the Melbourne job”.
According to Wilson, ex-Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas was considered a leading candidate for the Dees’ top job but for “some social media commentary from his past … regarding the middle-eastern war” which made key figures at Melbourne “nervous”.
“I’m not sure whether Keith made the call or Melbourne made the call, but I know there was a lot of nervousness when the social media stuff emerged,” Wilson said.
“Keith Thomas camp members say to me that he simply opposes war and it was meant to be just anti-war comments, but it made people at Melbourne nervous.”
WELCOME BACK ROSS THE BOSS
Cornes celebrated the return of Ross Lyon’s “hard edge” after the serious spray to his St Kilda players during the weekend’s heavy loss to Brisbane – but Wilson was not impressed by his post-match press conference.
“Nah sorry, smart alec Ross. I don’t like that,” said Wilson on The Agenda Setters, in response to a clip of Ross entering a back and forth with a journalist in his post-match press conference.
“She asked the question, does she need to explain blow by blow what was going on, on the footy ground?”
“I thought she handled herself really well,” said Cornes, “and Ross was well within his rights to answer that question back.”
Riewoldt doubled down on his previous comments that the standards at the club recently and “towards the end of my career … were not premiership standards” but believed Ross’ methods were about rectifying that.
He also declared St Kilda captain Jack Steele was “not an A-Grade midfielder anymore” after a poor start to 2025 by the two-time All-Australian.
On Footy Classified, Geelong great Jimmy Bartel backed Lyon’s approach but only if used sparingly.
“You can’t do it every week. Maybe you’ve got two or three bullets to fire as a coach every year … and I think it has its place,” Bartel said.
But not everyone was sold on Lyon’s method.
“I’d argue they are no better under him than what they were under Brett Ratten,” Damian Barrett posited.
“Look at the last three matches … 110 points or more scored against the Saints in each of the last three games.
“For that to happen against a Ross Lyon-coached team, three weeks in a row is almost unheard of.”
Originally published as What you missed on TV: Hornet’s outburst, Lyon’s spray, coverage of Bevo and more
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