Channel 7 had rolled the dice putting footy greats Kane Cornes and Dale Thomas together on the Agenda setters and it appears there is no love lost between the pair.
In light of this weekend’s coaching feud between Craig McRae and Adam Kingsley, Caroline Wilson took a moment on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters to reflect on another feud between two former footy stars, in Thomas and Cornes.
‘I need to address the elephant in the room. I never thought I would see the day that we’d be sitting on the table with these two gentlemen,’ Wilson said.
‘There was only one feud people were talking about in the media last year, let’s relive some of it.’
The pair have been embroiled in multiple heated feuds in recent years, which led to the Triple M presenter branding his new co-pundit a ‘f***wit’ at a function over the off-season.
Some had raised concerns over how Cornes and Thomas would fit together on Channel 7 after the Port Adelaide great jumped ship from Channel 9’s footy coverage last year.
Dale Thomas (left) and Kane Cornes (right) have sat down for an awkward reunion on Channel 7s the Agenda Setters
The pair addressed their fiery and bitter feud for the first time publicly and in person, with Caroline Wilson instigating a discussion about the matter
It came after Cornes had alleged that Thomas was ‘lazy’ and worked ‘part-time’ seemingly accusing the Channel 7 pundit of copying his opinions.
Wilson played excerpts of Cornes’ explosive spray at Thomas and Tony Shaw during the show.
‘I’m sick of some lazy members of the AFL media, I’m sick of AFL figures having opinions off the back of other AFL figures,’ Cornes had said during an episode of Footy Classified on Channel 9.
‘For the likes of Daisy Thomas and (former Collingwood coach) Tony Shaw, who work part-time and they don’t have to do a lot of on-air time, for their big opinions this week to be something I said 12 months ago on SEN SA is embarrassing. Get up early, watch the games, work hard and stop having opinions off other people’s opinions.’
Wilson then played Thomas’ rebuttal, in which he told Triple M: ‘For (Kane Cornes) to come out and say: “I’m sick of these media types having opinions on other media types’ opinions”, what is going through his brain at the moment?
‘That is the entire industry? That’s a space he lives in probably more than any of us.’
Thomas, though, was adamant he was right to fire back at Cornes, on the radio show, claiming that Cornes had started the feud with his comments.
‘It started with the Corn,’ he began. ‘Those shots were first fired, and then I rebutted and refuted a lot of them, and I think rightfully so.
Cornes appeared to hit out at Thomas on Channel 9’s Footy Classified last season, branding him ‘lazy’
Thomas lashed back at Cornes on Triple M, questioning ‘what was going through Cornes’ brain’
‘I’ll happily have people go at me and take the mickey out of me for anything but the preparation side of things, and getting up early and your employer should be giving stuff and money back, I thought was too far.
‘I said some things over the pre-season that probably didn’t help that, but there’s no real surprise that we don’t get along.
‘I love Carlton Draught, I love steak, and I love going back to my own football club, Corn, isn’t really into steak and doesn’t drink and…’
Cornes, though, conceded he may have been hard on his now co-pundit.
Cornes said: ‘Yeah, I do [think it was harsh], watching that back.
‘I think, yeah, I was, I was harsh.’
Pressed further on the dramatic feud, Wilson asked whether Cornes felt that Thomas ‘had stolen one of his opinions?’
Cornes replied: ‘It wasn’t that.
Cornes (right) said that he may have been a ‘bit harsh’ in his crtique of Thomas but Thomas stood firm of his criticisms of Cornes
‘My thought was, I would say something on a Sunday or a Monday, and then on Wednesday the Triple M guys would, sort of, mock everything I had said.
‘And I just got to a point where I’d had enough. (I thought): “I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to call it out”.’
Cornes and Thomas had also traded barbs last year after the former Power star claimed midfielder Zak Butters was ‘soft’ after he was subbed off with a rib injury during their finals defeat by Geelong.
Thomas subsequently rubbished his analysis of the situation, saying: ‘If (Cornes) was sitting directly opposite me at any stage in front of a microphone or in front of me at the pub, I’d tell him that is the dumbest thing I’ve heard for a long while.’
Over the off-season, Thomas had opened up on having to put his feud aside and work with Cornes on Channel 7 – but delivered a spikey response.
‘Kane is alright, I understand the role he plays in the media,’ Thomas said, speaking alongside Channel 7 presenter Jason Richardson and Triple M’s Nathan Brown. ‘I am going to have to work with him so I’m going to put the fact aside that he is a complete f***kwit and try and push on.’
Wilson also brought up comments he had made at an AFL function where he had used a similar phrase.
‘You got really nasty over this summer knowing that you were going to be working with Kane…’ Wilson pressed.
‘I said some stuff at an AFL function that was given to me by the host. He said: “Get up there and try and liven the joint up,” that was a direct quote.
‘The fact that I added a bit too much mayo and swore not knowing it was recorded… would I have had my time again knowing it was recorded? Probably.
‘Would I have said the same things if it wasn’t recorded, potentially.’
The group then discussed who had got the higher ground in the feud with Thomas claiming: ‘It’s 2-0 Daisy’.
Cornes replied: ‘Alright, we’ve got a whole year to get through that one and then we’ll be the judge at the end of the year.’
