Kane Cornes shreds Port Adelaide after 84-point loss to Geelong

A former Port Adelaide premiership star has applied the blowtorch to his old club after they were dismantled on Thursday night.

Former Port Adelaide premiership star Kane Cornes has taken to his old side with a flamethrower.

The Power were emphatically blown off the park on Thursday night in a blistering display from Geelong.

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After finishing second on the ladder and in front of their homes fans, the Power suffered their second largest finals loss in the club’s history in truly ugly scenes.

The knives for coach Ken Hinkley were sharpened all over again in the wake of the defeat, but Cornes says a change of coach isn’t the key to fixing some glaring issues within the team.

“I always said it’s going to have to be a grand final performance in year 12 for him to be coaching next year. I don’t change from that,” Cornes said on SEN.

“This week they’re going to have to get through and I don’t suspect they’re going to be able to turn it around in a week, particularly if (Zak) Butters doesn’t play.

Cornes went after his former club. Photo: Channel 9.

Butters was subbed out early in the third quarter. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“Another straight sets exit and there’s going to have to be a long exteneral review of what has gone on at the footy club on the biggest stage.

“On the reverse of that, I think they’ve made their mind up on Josh Carr. That’s the way they’re going to go, I’m just not sure that’s going to solve all their problems when you look at the lack of depth on the list and a playing group that lacks resilience.

“This is the group you’ve got, there’s no draft picks or Tom Barrass or Josh Battle coming in. It’s probably the time for a new voice and a change and a circuit breaker and all that.

“But Port fans that say: ‘Sack Ken Hinkley’. OK, what’s your plan? Unless you’re going to open it up to try and get the best coach for the club at the time and run a proper process.

“But just to give the keys to Josh Carr, who I love and think is going to be a great senior coach one day, I just don’t think that solves all your problems.“

Replacing Ken won’t fix the Power. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Cornes took aim at the playing group for effectively putting the cue in the rack when the Cats ramped it up in the second half as they kicked 11 goals to one.

“When things get a little bit tough. You can’t give up in a final like that. And there was many many times I think Port Adelaide players last night made a decision to give up,” he said.

“There was probably 10 Port Adelaide players that weren’t up to it … so you had that from your bottom 10, but you also had that from your top three or four, which you can’t have.

“You can’t have that from Connor Rozee last night, you’re the captain of the footy club, you can’t have a 16-disposal game with no influence.”

Cornes wasn’t alone in applying the blowtorch to the Power with David King and Leigh Montagna calling out the club over the horror display.

“They just dismembered them,” King said on Fox Footy of the damage Geelong did to the hosts.

“It was brutal all night — 120 minutes. The (Port Adelaide) coaches’ box (was) lost for answers.

“What did they really do to shift the course of this game? What did they really do when it was on the line early?”

Too many Power players went missing on Thursday night. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Montagna responded as he criticised Port’s approach and ultimately their complete lack of response.

“Port Adelaide just didn’t have any answers, they’ve got no plan B,” he said.

“They try the same thing every single week, and when it works it looks great, when it doesn’t, it’s been exposed.”

Thursday night’s catastrophe represented the Power’s fourth consecutive finals loss — and some of them haven’t been particularly close.

“(They’ve had) some bad pummelings in finals,” Montagna continued.

“They’ve already had a 70-point loss last year … and now an 80-point loss, so when they get beaten in finals, it is bad, because they don’t have anything else to go to.

“Their body language looked poor at halftime, and then they played like it in the second half.”

Port Adelaide will now take on either the Western Bulldogs or Hawthorn next weekend in a semi-final contest at Adelaide Oval.