A heuristic approach based upon excluded volume arguments is developed for modelling the distribution of pore sizes in isotropic networks of randomly distributed cylindrical fibres. Our formalism accounts for the finite hard core diameters of the fibres, and leads to compact, analytically tractable expressions that span the complete range of volume fractions. Results are presented for the mean and mean-squared pore radii as functions of the fibre volume fraction, and for the partition coefficient of a spherical tracer particle into such a network under conditions such that steric effects are dominant.