Nick Riewoldt fires up after Kane Cornes’ criticism of Harry Sheezel
St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt has hit back at Kane Cornes after the former premiership player went after a rising star of the game.
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St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt has fired up and snapped back at Kane Cornes in the wake of him criticising one young AFL star.
On Monday night’s episode of The Agenda Setters, the former Port Adelaide premiership player put North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel in the spotlight.
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Sheezel remains one of the most prolific disposal getters in the league, averaging 29.7 through the opening seven rounds of the season.
But Cornes savaged the 20-year-old for racking up cheap touches and not impacting the game forward of centre.
It was criticism Riewoldt wasn’t on board with and he let Cornes know about it.
Watch the two former AFL players clash in the video player above
“I’m actually a little bit concerned with Harry Sheezel, he’s fourth in the comp for disposals yet he’s 17th for score involvement,” Cornes said.
“Sheezy Ball is what I’m calling it. Forget stat padding, he is getting the Sheezy’s. He’s getting far too many Sheezys.
“30 touches (vs Port Adelaide) one score involvement. He may be the least of their (North’s) problems, but I’m telling you Clarko has to coach this really hard.
“Get him in the front half of the ground and have his disposals more damaging than that.
“Comparing him to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, similar player, similar position and similar age. They’ve got similar disposals but look at the metres gained and the score involvements, that’s what he’s got to aspire to.”
Riewoldt however wasn’t having it and quickly shot back at Cornes for targeting one of North’s brightest young players.
“I reckon you’re being way too harsh,” Riewoldt said.
“Branding it and calling it ‘Sheezy Ball’ come on man. He’s the sort of bloke that if he had of walked in the door at Port Adelaide you would have loved the way he goes about it and how professional he is.”
Cornes interjected: “It doesn’t mean you can’t coach him hard.”
The St Kilda great then put Cornes on the hot seat over his suggestion of moving him (Sheezel) into the midfield.
Riewoldt said: “You want him to go through the middle, who are you getting out of there?”
Cornes responded: “Well plenty, you could get (Tom) Powell out. You could get (Luke) Parker who starts in the centre bounce out and put Sheezel in there and really challenge him to get his touches in the front half.”
Riewoldt then pointed out the criticism being levelled was more to do with his positioning and not his disposals.
“So are you blaming him or (Alastair) Clarkson?” he asked.
Cornes replied: “It’s both, but it’s mainly coaching.”
Riewoldt shot back: “So then why is it Sheezy Ball, why isn’t it Clarko ball.”
Cornes said: “Because that’s the name of the player, that is a Sheezy ball. You can see it, it is a stat that is cheap and now you can actually identify it and hopefully the club is challenging him to get that out of his game.”
Riewoldt bluntly responded: “It’s not going to catch on that one.”
Host Craig Hutchison weighed in: “I think you’re too hard.”
It’s not the first time Cornes has voiced his concerns with Sheezel’s impact on a contest having put him in the spotlight following the club’s 82-point loss to Carlton in round six.
“They are allowing him to play an easy brand of football, and he’s not the only one,” Cornes said on SEN Sportsday.
“They need to be demanding a lot more of him in terms of where he’s winning the football and how many times he’s handballing versus kicking.
“He had nine kicks on the weekend from 32 disposals and 13 of those touches were absolute junk in dead time during the last quarter, which didn’t matter.
“He’s playing an easy brand of football at the moment and he’s not challenging himself.
“I’d much rather 22 touches, eight score involvements and a goal from him, which he can easily do, versus the 33 (disposal) junk stat-padding rubbish that he’s getting right now.”
Sheezel will have a chance to prove he’s a damaging ball winner when North Melbourne take on Essendon on Thursday night at Marvel Stadium.
Originally published as Nick Riewoldt fires up after Kane Cornes’ criticism of Harry Sheezel
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