- North Melbourne has suffered bad losses in recent weeks
- Cornes used old footage to question appointment of coach Alastair Clarkson
- Sparked feud with veteran journalist Caroline Wilson
A fiery clash erupted on Channel Seven as Caroline Wilson accused Kane Cornes of ‘verging on bullying’ in a tense exchange over North Melbourne president Sonja Hood.
The confrontation unfolded live on The Agenda Setters on Monday night as Wilson took issue with Cornes repeatedly airing an old clip of Hood discussing the club’s landmark signing of coach Alastair Clarkson.
‘No, Kane – this is not good enough,’ Wilson said firmly after Cornes played the clip again. ‘You’ve played that clip so many times, it’s verging on bullying.’
Cornes, known for his outspoken and often controversial commentary, pushed back immediately.
‘What do you mean? We play audio all the time. We’ve played audio repeatedly,’ he said.
‘How many times have we played the St Kilda audio where they said about the list was better when they sacked Brett Ratten? Is that bullying, or is it just because it’s Sonja Hood?’
Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson and former Port Adelaide premiership winner Kane Cornes clashed over North Melbourne
Cornes has questioned the appointment of champion coach Alastair Clarkson at the Kangaroos
Wilson accused Cornes of bullying because he repeatedly used old footage of North Melbourne president Sonja Hood
Wilson replied, ‘Well, I frankly think that is a bit bullying of Andrew Bassat.’
The debate centred on a 2022 video of Hood hailing Clarkson’s appointment as North Melbourne coach, declaring there was ‘no plan B’ in the club’s pursuit of the four-time premiership leader.
At the time, the announcement marked a turning point for the struggling club, which hadn’t reached the finals since 2016 and had cycled through coaches Brad Scott, Rhyce Shaw, and David Noble, who collectively managed just 15 wins in 57 games.
Clarkson, widely regarded as one of the AFL’s greatest modern coaches after guiding Hawthorn to four flags between 2008 and 2015, was seen as the saviour to lead North back to contention.
But results have been hard to come by.
Despite a standout win over Melbourne in round two, the Kangaroos have slumped again with consecutive losses to Sydney and Gold Coast, raising fresh questions about the club’s progress.
North Melbourne fought back from 25 points down against the Suns to briefly take the lead, only to be overrun as Gold Coast slammed home 11 of the last 13 goals.
‘We just fell away in that space in the last part of the game and they got on top in clearance and territory,’ Clarkson said post-match. ‘We just found the dam wall opened.’
North Melbourne is still looking for answers after back-to-back heavy losses put them back at the bottom of the AFL ladder
Wilson strongly defended Hood’s earlier optimism, saying: ‘This is a footy club that had just had two disastrous coaching appointments.’
‘They’d just landed a four-time premiership coach, a former favourite son, they are down on their knees – you wouldn’t give a press conference and boast about it? You wouldn’t celebrate it?’
Cornes insisted the repeated use of the clip was justified.
‘The reason I played it, if you’d let me ask you the question – are they now concerned that that was the wrong move?’ he said. ‘You’re well connected to the club; are they now second guessing themselves over that appointment?’
Wilson countered: ‘I think everyone at North Melbourne… and I’m not ‘well connected’ to the club – I have relationships with every club.’
‘My view about them going into this year is: we’ve now got the list, or the future list, that is going to be the makings of [success]; the big question now is, has Alastair still got it?’
Cornes fired back: ‘Which is the reason why I played that (clip of Hood), because they were adamant two years ago, and now they would be questioning whether he’s the right guy.’
Wilson responded sharply: ‘It is irrelevant to play [that clip].’
