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Derm: My advice for Cornes over North saga
SEN • May 1st, 2025 5:11 pm
Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton has offered some candid advice for Kane Cornes after the SEN Fireball host was blacklisted by North Melbourne and accused of bullying their players.
On Wednesday, North’s Head of Football Todd Viney unleashed on Cornes for his criticism of the club and it's staff in recent weeks with a particular focus on Harry Sheezel, describing his actions as "inappropriate, targeted, vindictive, bullying behaviour".
The attack came in the aftermath of Cornes being critical of Sheezel's match style suggesting he was picking up easy uncontested football and was not in the same form he had shown in 2024.
Cornes has also been critical of Alastair Clarkson’s coaching style and Jy Simpkin’s on-field leadership and behaviour.
Brereton warned that while critiquing is part of his role as a commentator, Cornes does not always have to be the harshest or the most shocking to get his point across.
“The first thing you would say is clubs don’t take this action lightly,” Brereton said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“We know what Kane is and it does appear like he’s wanted to hammer into North a little bit more; it has an accumulative effect in the psyche of the club.
“If you play football – we all suffered it – everyone wants to get better whether you’re a player or commentator. If that’s the case, you will get things wrong and you’re open to criticism.
“Kane’s been a breath of fresh air for our industry. He is willing to say stuff. But at the moment he has so many jobs he wants to give something to all of them. The advice I would give to him is you don’t need to be front page news every time you are on air.
“You don’t have to give the grand statement. Just do your job and get on with it.
“Cop feedback, cop criticism. No one likes hearing criticism but listen to it and work out what’s real.”
TONE IT DOWN
With commitments across radio, broadcast and in-match commentary, Cornes is a man in demand when it comes to AFL media, and while most believe he is immune to being criticised, Brereton is sure the events of this week will have impacted him.
“You don’t have to be the hardest statement on a club or player every time,” he said.
“Gerard Whateley said he (Cornes) doesn’t seem to mind what people say about him; I don’t think that’s true; I think he does mind and he puts on an exterior.
“It gets through to a lot of people so I would caution him as to the veracity at which he goes on some subjects.”
CORNES HITS BACK
For his part, Cornes doubled down on his view of North after Viney and Sheezel had spoken and called Clarko out for rejecting an interview opportunity with him on Channel 7.
"I would have thought he was up for answering those tough questions," Cornes said on Sportsday. "Then the next day you get the call that it's off, which is a strange tactic I think from North.
“I think North Melbourne fans thought they were getting the Hawthorn version of Alastair Clarkson, where he was combative, and if he thought his club was harshly treated, he would be prepared to stand up to those that had given those harsh opinions of his club and fight back face to face.
“So, I think for him to run away from those questions, I think is a poor tactic.
“I think he's been poorly advised. I think North Melbourne fans would much rather him stand up to those and answer those tough questions face to face, because it's very easy to stand up when things are going well for your footy club, but the facts are they aren’t going well. It’s not going to be rosy.”
Asked if he’d ever been banned by a club or taken aside for a warning during his career, Brereton recounted a conversation he had with Kevin Sheedy back in the day.
“There was one article I wrote when poor James Hird just couldn’t get out on the field.
“He was the highest paid player at the time and they gave him a new contract.
“I wrote an article asking why they would do that. It was very calm compared to this day in age. But then it raised talk back everywhere, how could I say that. Kevin rang me and said it was unfair on Hird.”
