'Ridiculous': AFL great fumes over journo's 'whingers' jibe

Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes has taken aim at colleague Tony Jones over the debate around unfair advantages for Western Australian clubs.

The West Australian government last week lifted the local limit on outdoor gatherings to 10 people, due to the decline in the state's COVID-19 cases.

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The ruling in WA matches that of South Australia and would have allowed teams in those states to expand their training groups as the AFL moves towards restarting the postponed season.

The Queensland clubs - the Suns and Brisbane Lions - could also have benefited from ramping up training if given approval by the AFL after the state government on Friday eased restrictions.

But the AFL quickly stepped in to ensure the 10 Victorian clubs, along with Sydney and GWS, were not disadvantaged by different restrictions in different states, stressing all 18 teams must abide by initial rules where players can only train with one other person.

In making that ruling, the AFL was accused of bias towards Victorian clubs particularly, prompting a heated debate from within the AFL community.

Jones was critical of Perth's outrage over the AFL decision, labelling the state's supporters "whingers" during a Victorian radio segment last week.

Speaking on Channel Nine's AFL Sunday Footy Show, panelist Cornes slammed his host's "ridiculous" take on the debate, reiterating his view that West Australian clubs were constantly disadvantaged in lieu of the extra travel required of them across the AFL season.

"The AFL this week announced that the Perth-based clubs weren't able to train in groups of 10," Cornes said.

"Tony Jones went on Perth radio and he called the Perth people 'whingers'. He called them 'whingers' three times.

"Now this ruling is on the back of the AFL stating that it's a competitive advantage for the Perth teams to train in groups of 10, when just because Premier Dan Andrews wants everyone locked up, the Victorian teams aren't able to (train).

"Now this is the same team we're asking to travel across the country 11 times per year. How can you possibly label the Perth teams whinging on the back of this, considering the perks the Victorian teams get.

"There are unfair advantages right across the competition and this was just a ridiculous call."

TJ defends controversial ‘whingers’ remarks

Jones refused to back down from his controversial viewpoint, insisting that teams should only be able to conduct larger training sessions when all clubs have been granted permission to do so.

"I did not call the West Coast Eagles or Fremantle 'whingers', I called the 6PR breakfast team whingers," he said.

"The same team that actually rang me and said, 'Can you rattle the cage for us?'.

"I went on (Perth radio station) 6PR with their vast audience, which is probably something a little unique to yourself Kane with your radio show, and I didn't call them 'whingers' for the sake of whinging, but as I was saying it, I thought why should they get an unfair advantage?

"Why should they get an unfair advantage by being allowed to train for two-to-four weeks prior to the rest of the teams.

"If the AFL say there's going to be a three-week pre-season, then it should be a three-week pre-season across the board."

with AAP