AFL news 2023 | Kane Cornes defends Jason Horne-Francis over criticism, Mitch Robinson, David King comments
He was the shining light in Port Adelaide’s win over Western Bulldogs, and now young gun Jason Horne-Francis has become the centre of yet another media storm.
Having left North Melbourne in a bombshell trade last year, Horne-Francis has been relentlessly targeted by Kangaroos fans on social media and was booed at the Gather Round fixture.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley strongly defended the former number one draft pick in his post-match press conference, asking for critics to show him ‘respect’.
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Speaking on Nine’s The Sunday Footy Show, Kane Cornes doubled down on Hinkley’s comments, calling the North Melbourne supporters ‘disgraceful’.
Now Cornes has become embroiled in a back and forth with two former players in David King and Mitch Robinson who both criticised the Port Adelaide premiership winner.
Port coach goes into bat for young star
Speaking on Fox Footy, King was strong in suggesting the reason all the criticism started was because of Cornes.
“Kane Cornes put this on the radar with the rubbish about ice baths, that he was sacked from North Melbourne because of not taking ice baths and that flared the nostrils of the North Melbourne fans,” he said.
“Unfortunately Jason Horne-Francis has been the sole victim in all of this, it’s built a tension, a passion and a rage that wasn’t really there.
“The rage was started the moment hashtag ice bath was put out there, so every time he does something the fan base go beauty we’ve got an angle.
“The Kangaroos fans weren’t there to boo on the weekend so you can’t necessarily blame those people that have been targeted unfairly by those looking to make excuses.
“Jason Horne-Francis is going to be a star of the competition, we all know that, I don’t think it’ll be as big of a deal if the last six months of to and fro hadn’t taken place.”
Cornes fired back at King on Monday morning, saying his comments were ‘selective’.
“I think the moment Jason Horne-Francis requested a trade there was a lot of North Melbourne fans calling him a mummy’s boy and doing all of that,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“His former teammates including Cam Zurhaar were very critical on social media about the fire sale and all of that before I said anything about an ice bath.
“The vitriol coming from North Melbourne would have started regardless of me ‘stirring the pot’, to use Kingy’s reference there, so I just wanted to say that.
“I think the North Melbourne fans have got selective memories and David King is one of those.”
Cornes’ criticism on the Kangaroos didn’t end there, with the Port great imply the Horne-Francis situation is being used as an opportunity to deflect from a disastrous period for the club.
“Another thing on North Melbourne, they’re amazing how they want to deflect on this, this is a club that’s won 11 games in four years,” he said.
“The way they treated and managed their best and most talented player since Wayne Carey, they need to absolve some blame in that, how many times did you see a North Melbourne figure put their arms around Jason Horne-Francis like Ken Hinkley did on the weekend?
“North Melbourne can escape any blame and they can ignore the treatment they gave one of their best players and the lack of development they put in and time and care and love that he needed. It wasn’t just the ice bath of course but that was a reference point as to how poorly they managed their most talented player since Wayne Carey.”
Adding fuel to the fire, former Carlton Blues and Brisbane Lions player Mitch Robinson tweeted his criticism of Cornes, suggesting the coverage of Horne-Francis had been self fulfilling.
“My god, what did you expect?,” he said.
“You all continuously talk about JHF every show and banter through socials which fuels the narrative. No one would care otherwise, him moving clubs would’ve been yesterdays news. Common sense, maybe stop giving it air time & let the kid play.”
As expected though, Cornes hit back.
“Last week he was critical of the media for being too negative about a player, this week he’s critical of the media being too positive about a player,” he tweeted.
“Exhibit A of someone trying to swing in the Twitter popularity breeze #icebath.”
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