Nathan Brown has poured cold water over reports that he has fallen out with former colleague Kane Cornes.
AFL champions Brown and Cornes were co-hosts on Channel 9’s The Sunday Footy Show for several years before the latter moved to Channel 7 ahead of last year.
That Cornes no longer has any relationship with Brown’s fellow Footy Show panellist Damian Barrett is on public record, but reports that he is feuding with Brown too came as a surprise in recent weeks.
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But speaking on Triple M’s Friday Huddle, Brown said “there is no feud at all” between the pair, despite an awkward lift ride after Geelong’s defeat to Brisbane on Thursday night which, according to Barrett, brought tensions to boiling point.
“Post-match last night at GMHBA Stadium, there was a very awkward/tense/frosty moment involving your good self,” Barrett said to Brown.
Barrett said Brown walked out alongside Triple M colleagues Isaac Smith and Dale Thomas and ran into Cornes and Fox Footy’s David King at the lift.
“I was unaware of this until I got in here today,” Smith said.
“Being the person I am, I was just chatting away to everyone, having a little bit of fun and, unbeknownst to me, there was a fair bit of darn tension in that lift and no one could hit the right button, and when you get stuck on the wrong floor in that lift at GMHBA Stadium, it just takes a fair bit longer to get down.
“I just thought we’d touch on the game because we all had a common interest in the game, the guys were all driving back to Melbourne, all the commentators seemed to complain about going from Geelong to Melbourne, I thought that might be a point that we could all touch on. And no one wanted to touch on any of it.
“It was a very quiet lift ride.”
Brown admitted the lift was quiet, but insisted he and Cornes are not at loggerheads.
“Sometimes silence is golden,” Brown said.
“And I can do awkward better than anybody, so I was comfortable to stand in that lift and not say a word at all, because not every thought in your head needs a microphone.
“I did not say one word, (but) I don’t speak a lot either. I’d just got out 45,000 words calling the football with Daisy, so I was just having a bit of a rest.
“And it’s not a feud. That would indicate two or more people fighting. It’s not a feud.”
Barrett continued to prod at Brown, but the former Richmond and Western Bulldogs smooth-mover continued to shut it down.
“He goes me every week — have you heard me respond at all? No, I don’t. It’s no feud,” he said.
“There is no feud, because that means that two of us would be feuding or fighting, which we’re not.”
Brown and Cornes fought in an exhibition boxing bout at Gather Round in 2024, at which point they were still colleagues at Nine.
“Only two years ago we got in the ring, which was not really a feud, because when somebody says, ‘Please don’t knock me out, I’m struggling, can you look after me’, that’s an annihilation. It’s not a feud, OK? Just get that out of your head,” Brown said.
