Liam Jones was named as the unvaccinated Carlton player on Wednesday night by Sportsday journalist Sam McClure and multiple other reporters soon after.
The decision to name him has been questioned by some fans, with the debate raging as to whether it was in the public interest.
This is despite the fact that Jones would not be among the Blues returning to training as expected on December 6 where he would have been outed anyway.
Carlton also would have to move him to their inactive list at some point before 2022 and find a replacement, which obviously would have been public knowledge.
Kane Cornes believes the right decision was made to name Jones, given it clears the air surrounding every other player on Carlton’s list.
“There’s no leg to stand on there. The public … there’s a gripe against journalists, I think there’s a perception they’re grubby and hiding in bins and trying to get stories, this story is absolutely in the public interest of a football supporter and a paid-up Carlton member,” Cornes told SEN SA Breakfast.
“The other thing this has done is it has removed the doubt over any other Carlton player.
“I saw multiple names on Twitter. I saw Liam Jones’ name speculated about, but I saw other players named, probably five or six. Any doubt over them has now been removed.
“When they return to training and you’re Channel Seven and you’re looking for who’s injured and who’s there, like we do weekly, and a player isn’t training, you report that.
“Jake Kelly’s got a hammy and he’s not training and he’s off to get a scan, you report that on the news.
“It’s exactly the same. If Liam Jones isn’t there because he isn’t vaccinated and he’s not in the side, it is in the Carlton fans’ interest.
“I don’t agree with his choice not be vaccinated. I think in a team sport like AFL it is all about the team and this is in some way putting the individual before the team and hurting his team and their want to win a premiership.
“He’ll have to wear the ramifications of that and that’s probably finishing his career prematurely. No one likes the situation we’re in, but it’s the only way out. I fully support the AFL’s stance on this and I fully support Sam McClure’s right to name him.
“Sometimes journalists get a hard rap, but he has done his job exceptionally well here and it does remove the doubt over all of the Carlton players.”
Co-host Andrew Hayes agreed, adding that almost immediately after the original report, the football community mostly knew who the player was anyway.
“The broader point is this was heavily trending on Twitter, Liam Jones was trending on Twitter before Sam McClure named him,” Hayes added.
“People already knew. It was inevitable that it would come out in a public space. Don’t even bother trying to go after McClure on this one.”
Jones will be a tremendous loss for the Blues off the field if he is moved to the inactive list.
Aside from Jacob Weitering, Carlton’s key defensive stocks are thin without Jones.
The addition of Lewis Young in the trade period from the Western Bulldogs helps, but the only other key defender on Carlton’s list is Oscar McDonald.
Caleb Marchbank is working his way back from a torn ACL and plays more the third tall role.
"A lot of people aren't going to be happy."@sam_mcclure explains why he decided tonight to name Liam Jones as the Carlton player refusing to be vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/AZuCdYiIHw
— Sportsday (@SportsdayRadio) November 10, 2021
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