'Grow up': Matthew Lloyd rips 'petulant' Jason Horne-Francis over coach snub

Bombers legend Matthew Lloyd has blasted Jason Horne-Francis over his "petulant" behaviour, declaring his snubbing of coach Ken Hinkley a "nearly droppable" offence.

In Port's 14.13 (97) to 13.10 (88) win over the Kangaroos at the Adelaide Oval, the ramifications of Horne-Francis' messy split with the club were still obvious.

The 21-year-old was involved in several on-field altercations with former teammates, but it was a moment in the third quarter that really set the young star off.

READ MORE: Sydney export Australia's newest NFL star

READ MORE: 'Impossible dream' continues for Hollywood star's team

READ MORE: Golfer strips off to play shot from alligator-infested pond

Horne-Francis stood on the mark as Jy Simpkin kicked, before he nudged him in the back from behind. The Port on-baller took exception and took Simpkin to the ground and jumped on top of him.

The Power had the ball at the time as Paul Curtis and Tristan Xerri all ran in.

North Melbourne received a free kick for the incident with Port leading by only 12 at the time. Luke Davies-Uniacke then received a 50m penalty and kicked the goal.

At three quarter time, the verbal's continued and Zak Butters had to drag Horne-Francis away.

During the break, Horne-Francis was pulled into a huddle with Hinkley, Butters and Connor Rozee, and at one stage tried to walk away but was dragged back in by Butters.

Speaking on Nine's Sunday AFL Footy Show, Lloyd praised Butters, Rozee and Hinkley for their handling of the situation, but said Horne-Francis needs to "grow up".

"His coach is talking to him, trying to calm him, and he walks off on the coach. That is petulant behaviour," he said.

"You don't want too many players in your team like that. It's nearly droppable behaviour."

Post-match, Hinkley defended Horne-Francis, but admitted he had some hesitation in sending him back onto the field.

"(We were) just trying to help him and calm him down because he's an emotional player and I love that about him," he said in his press conference.

"He's such a fierce competitor and he's playing against North Melbourne who we all understand is where he came from."

Fellow Sunday AFL Footy Show panellist Damien Barrett said Horne-Francis was still among the best-on-ground, and said the Kangaroos would've benefitted from having a player like him on the field.

Lloyd suggested he agreed to a point, but said Horne-Francis' attitude would eventually cost them a win.

"It's all fun and games until you lose a tight one because he does something stupid," he said.

"Wonderful players play on the edge (of emotions). Marcus Bontempelli plays on the edge, but it's keeping things in control.

"When your coach speaks to you, don't turn your back. That's nearly, to me, unforgivable.

"I'd grab him again tomorrow and say: 'What you did to me ... do not disrespect me or your senior players like that again, because again it'll come back to bite us'."

Hinkley went on to hint Horne-Francis is treated differently with free kicks.

"I think the thing we miss a little bit with Hornet is he has to work damn hard for any free yet he can give them away a little bit easy I think. I would just recommend that he gets to earn his free kicks a bit more than most people," he said.

"I'm not saying he does everything perfect, I'm just saying he gets held onto and all sorts of treatment but he keeps playing hard and going at the footy and sometimes they boil over," he said.

"He was frustrated, he let his emotions boil over into stuff he couldn't control ... the best people to listen to were his captain and vice-captain and they were really good at helping him."

Butters was also asked what he said to his young competitor, with the vice-captain explaining the message was simply about trying to win the game and having a laugh about it afterwards.

"It's like trying to cage a raging bull, it's pretty tough at times but I'd much rather that than have to work someone up to try and compete," he said.