Abbey Holmes blasts Kane Cornes’ ‘unwatchable’ Darwin swipe

As Darwin throws its hat in the ring to become the AFL’s 20th team, debate has erupted after Kane Cornes took aim at the bid.

Abbey Holmes has hit back at Kane Cornes. Photo: Getty Images

Channel 7’s Abbey Holmes has slammed Kane Cornes after the Port Adelaide 300-gamer seemingly drew a line through Darwin’s bid to be the AFL’s 20th team.

It comes after the Gold Coast Suns thumped North Melbourne 17.18 (120) to 7.10 (52) at Darwin’s TIO Stadium last week, a match Cornes claimed was “unwatchable”.

Watch every game of every round this Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >

There are reports the Northern Territory has taken a big step towards becoming the AFL’s 20th team, releasing a business case for the licence as well as a new stadium to be built in Darwin’s CBD over the next seven to 10 years at a reported cost of $700-735 million.

It’s a move that would make the AFL a truly national competition as the Darwin team would likely come in a few years after Tasmania join the competition in 2028.

Channel 7 sideline reporter Holmes was all for the move, but hit back at Cornes’ comments claiming better quality teams would have given a better quality game.

Kane Cornes slammed the Darwin bid. Photo: Twitter

Abbey Holmes has hit back at Cornes. Photo: Supplied

Holmes was a premiership player with the Adelaide Crows in the inaugural season of the AFLW in 2017 and is a legend of the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL), having become the first woman to kick more than 100 goals in a season in the competition.

“I’m all for it, obviously,” Holmes said of the Darwin bid on LiSTNR’s Footy Talk on Wednesday.

“A task force is being put together – we heard that last week – with the likes of Andrew McLeod, Nathan Buckley and Andrew Demetriou as well on that task force.

“How long can we sit with 19 teams? We need a 20th licence, and if this is a genuine nationwide Australian competition then the Northern Territory is it.

“(Chairman at AFL Northern Territory) Sean Bowden is up there now doing a mountain of work to make sure this happens.

“One thing that really grinded my gears … Kane Cornes, after last week’s game with the Suns and North Melbourne, said, ‘This is a perfect example of why we can’t have a team in the Northern Territory’. Because of the calibre of the game that was put forward.

“I’m sorry — and this is no disrespect to North Melbourne — but they are last on the ladder.

“So, I’m sorry but don’t put North Melbourne there, who you could throw anywhere around the competition at the moment and they’re nine times out of 10 likely to lose that game.

“Send Brisbane up there, who are used to the greasy conditions and humidity, and it’s a different game.

“So, I cannot stand when they say that is a perfect example of why we can’t (have a Northern Territory team). Send a top eight team there … and it’s a completely different product.”

The Kangaroos were not up to scratch. Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Footy Talk co-host Jack Heverin suggested that when the Melbourne Demons played in Alice Springs or Darwin, they average 81 and 80 points respectively.

“There you go, scores can be kicked,” Holmes summed up. “Just depends who you send there.”

The comments come after Cornes slammed the style of football played in Darwin as a reason against a team in the city.

“A loser for me is footy in Darwin,” Cornes said on SEN’s Sportsday earlier in the week.

“The biggest argument as to why you can’t have a team in Darwin is the style of football that’s played there. It’s unwatchable.

“It’s the elephant in the room that we’re going to have a team in Darwin and the conditions are unwatchable and unplayable for the players.”

Cornes played plenty of games in Darwin, including his 200th and said the issue was “how damp the ball gets”.

“I think largely it’s due to sweat,” Cornes added.

“I was having a chat to Bucks (Nathan Buckley) about it off-air and he said ‘they should play that at 1 o’clock’. He said he doesn’t understand why they play that at night.

“It is a big issue and I’m not sure you can solve the issue unless you play the games during the day and it’s going to be pretty hot at times doing that.”

Originally published as Abbey Holmes blasts Kane Cornes’ ‘unwatchable’ Darwin swipe