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Cornes responds to North's bullying claims
SEN ⢠ April 30th, 2025 2:05 pm
Kane Cornes has responded to accusations of "vindictive bullying behaviour" by North Melbourne's Todd Viney, refusing to back down on his criticism of Harry Sheezel.
Viney unleashed on Cornes for comments he made about the 20-year-old taking âcheap possessionsâ and âstat-paddingâ.
âIâm actually a little bit concerned. Iâve spoken about this probably for the last month with Harry Sheezel,â he said on Channel 7âs The Agenda Setters.
âSo letâs look at some of the numbers in terms of his ball-winning ability. Heâs fourth in the comp for disposals, yet heâs 17th for for score involvements. âSheezey ballâ is what Iâm calling it.
âForget stat-padding. He is getting âthe Sheezeys.â He is not on Arden St, he is on Sheezey St.â
Cornes also took aim at Roos captain Jy Simpkin in the wake of the club's narrow loss to Port Adelaide on the weekend.
Asked about Cornesâ take on his players, Viney did not hold back.
âWe understand the role of the media ⌠but we believe some of the commentary from Kane and particularly earlier this week with a couple of our players in Jy Simpkin and Sheezel overstepped the line, was inappropriate, targeted, vindictive, bullying behaviour that we as a club wonât stand for,â said Viney.
âWe hope for balanced critique of our performances, but when it starts to overstep the line and become personal, itâs my responsibility and the clubâs responsibility to look after our people.â
CORNES RESPONDS
Viney also revealed that the club has rejected a request from Channel 7 for Cornes and Luke Hodge to conduct an interview with Alastair Clarkson.
âWe received a request from Channel 7, for Kane Cornes and Luke Hodge to come and do an interview with our coach,â Viney said.
âBut on the back of some commentary that we feel has been ⌠over two and a half years thereâs been some personal attacks on the club and vindictive attacks that we feel have been unwarranted.
âTherefore Channel 7, Luke Hodge and whoever else theyâd like to present to have the conversation with Clarko, itâs still open, but until we start hearing some more respectful dialogue from Kane around our people and our club, we wonât be engaging with him on any of his media channels.â
Taking to social media in the wake of the press conference, Cornes said: "I got a call from my producer at Channel 7 and we had organised an interview with Clarko in the rooms.
"Banned from the north Melbourne rooms because I had some comments about one of their gun players, Harry Sheezel who I really rate.
"I just donât think theyre using him in the right way and that heâs stat padding. North Melbourne really need to challenge him to be more impactful.
"So its strange that Clarko with all his experience wasnât able to answer some of these questions as well as other areas at the club that I've been strong on.
"But banned from the North Melbourne rooms? Lets see if North can chalk up their second win of the year."
