Kane Cornes drops deeply personal family secret

AFL commentator Kane Cornes has divulged a family secret he has always kept hidden away from football fans.

AFL commentator Kane Cornes has opened up on deeply personal family details as he prepares for the biggest gamble of his TV career.

The outspoken analyst has been one of the most ruthless critics in football in recent years, seemingly invincible to criticism that has been thrown back his way.

However, the Port Adelaide great has revealed there is much more to the story in an expansive interview with dad Graham in The Sunday Mail.

Watch every match of the 2025 AAMI Community Series Live & ad-break free during play, exclusive to FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

Cornes became the most sought-after talent during the footy media shake-up last year, leaving Channel 9 to join Channel 7 as part of the network’s beefed-up football coverage strategy.

The 42-year-old has commented on the private lives of AFL players through his roles with SEN radio and Nine, but he has rarely spoken about his own life away from the camera.

He has told The Advertiser family secrets he has rarely addressed previously

When asked by dad Graham — a former coach of the Crows and local South Australian media cult figure — about his “tough” childhood, Cornes did not hold back.

“It was really hard because I was close to Mum,” Cornes told The Sunday Mail.

“I just remember I was always loved and I was thankful I was loved and always had a secure home and was fed and all of that.

“But it was just a sad environment. And then I guess when we came to your house, it was a bit more upbeat and we did things and it was the fun time. I remember, you know, on a Sunday night when you were dropping us home, I didn’t love going home.

“Mum would be shattered to hear that but it’s almost like your grandparents when they are the fun ones and you hand (the kids) back to the parents.

“She worked hard to do everything she could for us and did the best she knew how. But I guess it was just a sad childhood.

Kane with his wife Lucy and boys, Eddy, Ralph and Sonny. Source: Instagram.

“I remember going to a friend’s house and asking to stay one night and then I would ask to stay for two nights.

“Then I’d end up staying there for the week.

“But as you said in your in your opening (for the interview), footy was an escape.”

Cornes has previously said he was three years’ old when his dad and mum Pam split up. He has no memory of the pair living together.

He now has a happy private life with childhood sweetheart wife Lucy and sons Raph, Sonny and Eddy.

He admits those personal issues were the motivation behind his desperation to have a successful football career.

“I remember when (older brother) Chad started playing league footy, I’d come and sit right here and I watched training and always had that escape of ‘one day I’m going to be an AFL footballer’, and I couldn’t have imagined anything other than being that,” he said.

“Yeah, I was obsessed by it. I don’t know what I would have done if it didn’t work out the way it did. I was, as you know, pretty hard to deal with.

“If I’ve got any sort of regrets it’s the way I carried myself as a young player. Some people would have thought it was selfishness because I just wanted to play and get ahead and get best on ground.

“I was more just trying to get the best out of myself and didn’t really know how to do it in the best team-oriented way. I was a bit too self-centred.”

Graham Cornes (left), Mark Bickley, Kane Cornes and Warren Tredrea. Picture: Tricia Watkinson.

Cornes has previously addressed the anxiety and depression he faced towards the end of his career before his retirement in 2015.

He now says it continues to play a part in his life.

“Probably still have the anxiety and probably still think the worst of situations and, I don’t know – I have a bit of OCD and a bit of a negative outlook on things from time to time,” he said.

“I’ve probably just become better at dealing with it.”

He went on to say: “I always think this will be my last day, or I’ll get sacked tomorrow or what if I get sued and say something I shouldn’t have?

“There’s always that sort of nagging (feeling). It’s not dissimilar to when I played and I was playing on the great players – you always think they’re going to have 30 (disposals) and kick two (goals) and they are going to get best on ground.

“I never went into a game confident, thinking, I’ve got this guy’s measure or I’m going to get the better of him this game.

“Maybe that was a way for me to always be prepared for the worst situation, if that came. And that’s probably still the way I am wired a little bit today – but I think it has kept me on edge.”

Cornes in 2015 spoke about how significant those negative thoughts in his head were — and the role his parents’ broken relationship played in his mental state growing up.

“Dad thinks it is,” he said when asked if his anxiety was the result of his parents’ relationship break down.

“I remember as a child having a real fear of being left alone. He said he came home one night from being out, and the babysitter was on the couch asleep.

Kane Cornes at the Channel 7 Upfronts

“He got out of the car and was confronted with the sight of me clawing at the glass on the window, tears running down my face and crying hysterically “Mummy. Daddy. Mummy. Daddy!”

“Dad thinks it was from a sense of abandonment, and that the marriage breakdown was the genesis of my insecurity and anxiety that I have always had to deal with through my life and, in particular, football.

“If mum or dad went out, I was always worried that they were never going to come back. I’m not sure why that was, but as a kid you don’t always think logically. That was probably an early sign of my anxiety and what was to follow.”

When asked about his parents’ divorce he said: “As a child, I remember seeing how sad mum was all the time though.

“She didn’t handle the separation well at all, and it probably still haunts her a bit to this day.

“To see your mum really sad and in emotional pain — she was rarely in a happy or good place — is tough.

“That is the lasting memory I’ve got from my childhood. As a result I’ve always wanted to have a stable relationship, for me, but mainly for my kids, and I was very anxious and apprehensive about it from an early age.”

Cornes last year defended himself against a live radio ambush by Luke Darcy by saying he was an “introvert” who didn’t need the company of others.

That came after Darcy said: “I saw you in the gym today and you looked like someone who doesn’t want to bump into people, and I find that a little bit sad”.

He will need that thick skin when he makes his debut on Channel 7 in coming weeks.

The Power premiership player is the key piece in Seven’s football coverage push.

He will feature in Seven’s new “Agenda Setters” footy panel show that will go head to head with Channel 9’s Footy Classified.

According to Seven, Cornes will also feature in live match coverage and his own “Kane’s Call” production.

— You can read the full interview in The Sunday Mail