{"id":288411,"date":"2023-04-22T07:50:05","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T07:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=288411"},"modified":"2023-04-22T08:58:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-22T08:58:26","slug":"legend-calls-out-weak-horne-francis-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=288411","title":{"rendered":"Legend calls out 'weak' Horne-Francis move"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL<\/a> legend Leigh Matthews<\/a> has labelled Jason Horne-Francis<\/a>' decision to walk out on the Kangaroos as "weak" after yet another week in the headlines for the Port youngster.<\/p>\n

Horne-Francis has been roundly booed by rival fans all season after his big off-season trade move away<\/a> from the club that made him the No.1 pick in the 2021 draft.<\/p>\n

The teen star has endured an indifferent start to the 2023 season and was held to just 13 possessions as the Power won their third straight game on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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Up against the lowly West Coast Eagles at home, Port proved far too strong, running out 16. 13. (109) to 10. 9. (69) winners<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"ADELAIDE,<\/p>\n

Prior to the meeting against West Coast, Horne-Francis told The Age he was "confused"<\/a> by why fans other than those from North Melbourne had chosen to boo him this season.<\/p>\n

"I don't think many players like it when they get booed. I try not to take it in, but I do hear it. With all the pressure on the outside I can let it get into my head a little bit," he said.<\/p>\n

"I understand the North supporters' side of it. I was a young kid and I made the courageous decision to come home, and they are understandably disappointed. <\/p>\n

"I'm just a bit confused about why Collingwood, Sydney and Bulldogs supporters … why they would boo me."<\/p>\n

Matthews hit back at Horne-Francis' description of his off-season move to Port being "courageous".<\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI think it's weak to go back to Adelaide, I'm on that side of it," he told 3AW.<\/p>\n

"You do what you like, but courage is seeing it out and staying more than leaving in my view. Where the courage sits is different the way I see it.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI reckon supporters who (boo Horne-Francis say) he's just a player in an opposition jumper\ufeff and we can boo him because yeah he was the No.1 pick and walked out on North Melbourne, that's enough for me to boo him. <\/p>\n

"'Don't take it personally' is what I thought you would be saying to Jason because the more you talk about it, the more supporters have a reason to bloody boo you because you're in an opposition guernsey."<\/p>\n

\ufeffMatthews suggested that part of the scrutiny levelled at Horne-Francis was due to his lofty draft selection, something the player's own father had feared.<\/p>\n

\"Cornes<\/p>\n

"\ufeffF\ufeffans don't know the individual player," he said.<\/p>\n

"We know the draft age is very young, you're an 18-year-old playing elite level sport. <\/p>\n

"If I had a son, I wouldn't want him to be the No.1 draft choice. You get a $10,000 term deposit, that's good, but the scrutiny you get is massive."<\/p>\n

"My dad always said to me he hoped I wouldn't go No. 1 in the draft and me then being the 18-year-old was always like: 'Yeah sure, Dad.' But I'm seeing what he meant now," Horne-Francis told The Age.<\/p>\n

Horne-Francis and the Power will face St Kilda at Marvel Stadium next Friday, with the blockbuster clash to open up round seven.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by <\/strong><\/em>clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFL legend Leigh Matthews has labelled Jason Horne-Francis' decision to walk out on the Kangaroos as "weak" after yet another week in the headlines for […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=288411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288418,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288411\/revisions\/288418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/288415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=288411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=288411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=288411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}