Kane Cornes returns serve after 'bizarre' swipe from David King

Former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes has refuted suggestions from David King that he is partly responsible for the ugly treatment of Power young gun Jason Horne-Francis, by rival AFL fans. Horne-Francis was routinely booed by sections of the Adelaide Oval crowd every time he touched the ball in his team's 14-point win over the Western Bulldogs in Gather Round.

The same thing has happened to the former No.1 draft at grounds around the country this season after his move from North Melbourne in a four-club AFL mega trade. Horne-Francis - who is from South Australia - cited homesickness and said he wanted to move back to Adelaide to be closer to family and friends.

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The booing of the 19-year-old was condemned by Port coach Ken Hinkley after the match, and Cornes said the continued targeting of the youngster, particularly by North Melbourne fans was "disgraceful". It prompted King to launch an impassioned defence of North Melbourne's supporters, with the club great insisting comments from Cornes in 2022 had flamed the animosity against the player.

“What were the origins of this? You’ve got to cut to the chase. Kane Cornes put this on the radar with the rubbish about ice baths, that he (Horne-Francis) was sacked from North Melbourne for not taking an ice bath,” King said on Fox Footy's First Crack. “And that flared the nostrils of the North Melbourne fans, and they’ve been going backwards and forth at each other for six months, and unfortunately Jason Horne-Francis has been the sole victim in all of this.

“It’s built a tension and a passion and a rage that wasn’t really there. I think the North Melbourne fans were happy to part, ‘alright, it doesn’t always work out for every player that gets drafted, he wants to go home, get the big deal’.

“We sat on (AFL) 360 last year and we said you know what if you want to go, go, we can work on getting the next person in the door and we’ll go again. No-one’s bigger than the footy club, you go again. But the rage was started the moment hashtag ice bath was put out there."

Firing back at King on Nine's Footy Classified on Monday night, Cornes disputed the North Melbourne legend's version of events. He said when Hinkley took a crack at the media's role in perpetuating the animosity against Horne-Francis, it was aimed at pundits like King, and not himself.

Kane Cornes turns the tables on David King

" I found it (King's comments) bizarre and I'm not going to apologise for fiercely defending a player who I see to be a future superstar of the game," Cornes said. "I've gotten to know him a little bit. They're rapt with the role that he's playing for them and what a teammate he's been around the footy club.

"I've spoken to the club a couple of times over it. They just wanted it known that the comments were largely directed at David King and others at Fox Footy for comments he's made." Cornes said while he has no issues with King, he admits the Kangaroos great's comments took him off guard.

" We have a good relationship. I was surprised by it. I'm not going to take it personally," Cornes said. " We're all big aren't we? We've had ins and outs before and arguments before and we'll have it out on radio again on Friday, but I did think he threw me under the bus with that because he clearly knows Ken's comments weren't directed at me."

Cornes is unapologetic after being accused of bias when analysing his former club and said Horne-Francis "made an excellent decision" to leave North Melbourne for Port Adelaide. "He's clearly happy, he's around friends and family, and if you've watched any of North Melbourne play, particularly at the weekend where they were essentially witches hats, he's pretty happy to be playing in big games," Cornes said.

" I love the (Port Adelaide) footy club, I love Ken Hinkley the coach, my brother works there, I grew up there from 17-32, so I've got so much admiration and respect for that footy club.

"Of course you love the place and if that means you're a little bit slanted to the positive, then I'll cop that. Cornes said he would even tone down his defence of Horne-Francis if that was the 19-year-old's wish.

"If he (Horne-Francis) asks me to do that (ease up on Twitter comments), I would. Last time I checked, I was presenting him with his No.18 guernsey and we've got a really good relationship. I think his form has been excellent and they love him as a teammate.

"What I don't want is people such as David King, who now says he's going to be a superstar, you weren't with him from the start and you were questioning his defensive stuff as many others were. Don't then flip it around when you see what a player he can be and tell me how good he's going to be, because you weren't there. "

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