The ongoing saga between Kane Cornes and Luke Beveridge took a new twist on Thursday night after a "confrontational" exchange between the two.
Beveridge can be seen walking past the Channel 7 pre-game commentary ahead of the clash between Geelong and the Western Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium, stopping to engage with Cornes.
The Port Adelaide 300-gamer is already banned from attending the Bulldogs' rooms after a series of negative articles and comments directed at the 2016 premiership coach.
"Clearly the relationship between myself and the Western Bulldogs isn't a strong one."
Kane Cornes on his pre-game incident with Luke Beveridge | #AFLCatsDogs pic.twitter.com/ac5JNRRBIu
โ 7AFL (@7AFL) May 22, 2025
When probed in the post-match address following the 14-point defeat, Beveridge remain tight lipped about the encounter with the media personality, refusing to attract any attention to the shared run-in.
"Ultimately, when we come in here (the press conference) we talk about the game, I think that's probably all we're after, isn't it?," Beveridge said.
"If you're trying to drum up any controversy, I don't think there was any, so I've probably got nothing to say."
Veteran journalist Jon Ralph added some context to the situation, saying those from Beveridge's camp were "thankful (he) walked on".
"The Western Bulldogs' relationship with Channel 7 has plunged to new lows," Ralph told Fox Footy.
"Cornes was already banned from the Dogs' rooms after a series of negative articles and comments in regards to Beveridge. The club believes it's personal โ called him a โpoor ambassador for his football club', called for his sacking repeatedly.
.@cleary_mitch: "Take us through the incident with Kane Cornes pre-game."
Luke Beveridge: "What incident?" pic.twitter.com/SjVWSWSN9u
โ 7AFL (@7AFL) May 22, 2025
"People around the situation felt like Cornes stepped into his space and they're thankful that Beveridge walked on. Cornes said Beveridge was โstarting quite strongly at him', so he said โG'day Bevo' โ and it wasn't received well.
"The question here is whether this is deliberately disrespectful and antagonistic, whether it was the time and the space for Cornes to talk to Beveridge.
"It'll be great for the Cornes publicity machine, but I think Beveridge in a really highly emotional state in what he would believe to be a safe space pre-match dealing with all the issues he faced with the Bailey Smith saga, this was not the time and the place."
