AFL great Corey McKernan reveals The Footy Show sketch that annoys him 25 years later

An AFL great considered one of the game’s best players has revealed the one moment in his career that still annoys him – and it didn’t happen on the field. 

Corey McKernan played 237 games for North Melbourne and Carlton and won two premiership trophies. 

He was considered alongside Kangaroos teammate Wayne Carey as the sport’s most formidable duo at their peak. 

But an appearance as a guest on The Footy Show in 1997 blindsided the now 48-year-old and still irks him. 

The program featured a segment where McKernan was presented with a ‘What Could Have Been’ trophy by presenters Eddie McGuire, Sam Newman and Trevor Marmalade. 

The award mocked him by referring to the accolades he narrowly missed out on – after nearly sweeping the ‘grand slam’ of the AFL’s four big prizes. 

‘You go on The Footy Show with good intentions. You get a bit disappointed that if you are gonna go on there and give them the time of day, they’re going to effectively take the p*** out (of you),’ McKernan told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast. 

McKernan appeared on the Footy Show in 1997 when the program was at its peak popularity with hosts Eddie McGuire (left), Sam Newman (right) and Trevor Marmalade

McKernan said he never judged his career by what he didn’t achieve, and remains proud of what he’d done on the field. 

‘With the North Melbourne footy club or the games that are most important that I ever played for any team and the pressure was at its greatest, I know that I stood up the tallest,’ he said.

The AFL ‘grand slam’ consists of the Rising Star Award, the Brownlow Medal, the Norm Smith Medal, and the Premiership Medal. 

McKernan won the premiership with the Roos in 1996 against Sydney, a year before his Footy Show appearance. 

He backed that up with a second grand final win with the Roos in 1999 against Carlton, the club where he would go on to finish his career. 

But in 1996 the Brownlow eluded after he fell onto the back of Johnny Barnes while taking a mark in round six. 

McKernan (right) celebrates after winning the AFL grand final against the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1996

McKernan (pictured) has moved to Queensland after retiring from the AFL 

‘I was furious on the night that I got a free kick paid against me… If I really wanted to drive my knees into Johnny Barnes, he probably wouldn’t have got up.’ 

McKernan was suspended for a week at a point when he already had 10 Brownlow votes early on in the season. 

He was subsequently ruled ineligible under the ‘fairest and best rule’ and ended up watching his name rack up the equal-most votes on AFL’s night of nights from his own lounge room.

Teammates Wayne Carey and Anthony Rock gave him a replica plastic Brownlow Medal from McDonald’s. 

It was a similar story for the Rising Star Medal after McKernan received a one-match suspension in 1994 during crackdown on tripping, which was lifted a year later. 

He also narrowly missed out on the Norm Smith Medal for best player on the field in the AFL grand final. 

McKernan’s spectacular performance in the 1996 decider while nursing a knee injury saw him fall just shy of teammate Glenn Archer. 

No player in the AFL has collected the entire ‘grand slam’ and few have come as close as McKernan.

But still, for someone who first love was golf and who used to hide in his bedroom as a teenager when AFL scouts would stop by his house, his AFL career is undeniably remarkable. 

‘I’ve always said that with Greg Norman being my idol as a kid, I probably share a lot of similarities with ‘The Shark’ in that I found new ways to lose major things,’ McKernan said. 

The 48-year-old’s (pictured) original love was golf which he was adamant he wanted to play instead of AFL when he was a teenager