AFL world turns on Kane Cornes over ‘ridiculous’ Harley Reid criticism
Kane Cornes has come under heavy fire from the AFL community after scorching criticism surrounding Harley Reid.
Kane Cornes has come under fire over remarks he made about West Coast Eagles youngster Harley Reid.
The former Port Adelaide premiership player turned the spotlight onto the number one pick over his output in round eight against Essendon on Saturday.
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In the fourth quarter the 19-year-old pulled up instantly while chasing an opponent and went to the bench to receive treatment.
While many fans initially feared the talented youngster may have done a hamstring, Reid returned to the ground after receiving treatment on the bench.
It was this moment that Cornes singled out as he took aim over his conditioning and training standards.
“If he wants to be the best, if he wants to be Nick Daicos, he’s got to have his training standards to a level that is (like Daicos),” Cornes said.
“I’ve seen him in the last five minutes of a game. I don’t know what his training standards are.
“I’m saying that was a concern for me to see how out on his feet he was late in a game that was nowhere near as high pressure as the Collingwood one.
“After a week off with five minutes to go that he had to come off the ground. He came back on the ground, so he’s not injured, he’s cramping. A cramp is a sign of conditioning after a week off.
“I’ve praised Harley Reid, I think he’s been enormous for West Coast and made them relevant again, I love how competitive he is and how much of a winner he is.
“But that doesn’t mean you get away with poor efforts and poor training standards.”
The comments from Cornes however didn’t sit well with former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon who slammed the remarks as “ridiculous”.
“He’s played seven games that kid,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“I know what Kane’s doing.”
Fellow AFL legend Tim Watson asked: “Is it legitimate in any way to question somebody after seven games who had a disrupted pre-season and is being asked to play in the midfield as a first-year player?
“Is that a legitimate criticism?”
Lyon continued: “In his mind it would be, but it’s just ridiculous. I’m sorry.
“I think Kane has spoken in the past about the unbelievable pressure that the Western Australian media are putting on this kid.
“What you’ve just done there is the unbelievable pressure situation. Most people listening to that are going, ‘Mate, that’s just nonsense’.
“This is a kid who is still trying to work out the training standards. Do you expect him to know at seven games where he needs to be as an AFL midfielder?”
Lyon then highlighted Jason Horne-Francis, a player that Cornes praises more than most, and the criticism he received early in his career.
“See Jason Horne-Francis and his first year and how we critiqued him because he wasn’t chasing and he wasn’t putting defensive pressure on. Because guess what? He probably wasn’t fit enough because players have got to work it out for themselves,” Lyon said.
“If you get a kid, we’ll plonk you into the AFL, the most hyped kid in the history of footy, slap you straight in there and I tell you what, if by the seventh game you’re cramping because you can’t run out a game, I’m coming for ya!
“Can you see how ridiculous that sounds?”
Watson backed the scathing response from Lyon and said that Reid’s tank will come over time and levelling criticism this early is absurd.
“It is a ridiculous thing to zero in on,” Watson said.
“He may not have the engine yet. He may not physically have that.
“It may be that our explosive friend over in the west, Harley Reid, has great ability but he may not necessarily have the endurance capabilities yet. That will build over a period of time.
“I just think it’s a ridiculous thing to be saying so early in someone’s career.
“He (Cornes) had a miss last night.”
It wasn’t just the two legends who slammed Cornes over his comments with footy fans far and wide calling out the criticism.
Former Eagle Will Schofield wrote: “It’s really difficult to highlight this sort of coverage without bringing further attention, but isolating a bloke in his 7th game is borderline insanity.
Understand everyone wants to talk about Harley, so do I, but this is absolutely unwarranted.”
Former AFL player Josh Jenkins wrote: “Madness from KORN. Freshmen kids do about 60-70% of pre-season as is.”
ABC journalist Chris de Silva wrote: “So he says he doesn’t know what Harley Reid’s training standards are, but then goes on to say they’re not good enough anyway. Just an absolutely corny take.”
Reid has appeared in seven games for the Eagles and is averaging 17.6 disposals, 4.7 clearances, 3.3 tackles and has kicked five goals.
The Eagles will venture into Melbourne for the second time this season when they take on Collingwood at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
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