Newman said he would be delighted for Keenan to appear on The Footy Show this Thursday to square off.

But Keenan said last night he had nothing to gain by appearing on the show and that he was pressing ahead with litigation against Newman over comments made on last week's show.

``I would be delighted if Crackers came onto the show ..I'd have been delighted if he'd come onto the radio during the weekend, but Crackers won't come within a mile of me,'' Newman said.

``I reckon he's absolutely petrified.''

Newman remains unrepentant about his comments about Keenan on last week's The Footy Show and believes he has no reason to apologise.

``I tell you I stand by the right for me to bag someone who firstly had a go at me,'' he said.

``If Crackers wants to engage in litigation that's entirely his prerogative.

``I'll tell him again, he can say anything he wants about me and I promise you I will not go to my solicitor.

``I would hope he would be conciliatory enough to know that if he fires the first shot, please don't get those hang dog, cow eyes when someone fires one back.''

Newman said all he had done last week was give an opinion on Keenan, just as Keenan had given an opinion on him in his Tuesday column in the Geelong Advertiser

``He told your readers what he thought of me and I told my viewers what I thought of him,'' Newman said.

``It's just gratuitous bagging of me to make a hero of himself in a town that he's trying to get to accept him.

``It's great to bag me because that makes people feel good because most people want to bag me and he thought he'd be the champion of the cause.''

Newman said maybe he had riled Keenan with his comments because he had cut too close to the truth.

``I'm wondering maybe it's because I got a bit close to the truth,'' he said.