Kane Cornes torches two ‘out of shape’ Essendon players

Former AFL player turned media personality Kane Cornes has turned the blowtorch on two players over their current physical state.

Stringer and Tippa torched for being 'out of shape'.

Former Port Adelaide player turned media personality Kane Cornes has turned the blowtorch on two players over their current physical state.

Cornes has never been afraid to deliver a piece of his mind to the playing group and on Monday night it was two Essendon players who copped it.

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Bombers forwards Jake Stringer and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti copped the wrath from the former midfielder over how they looked during pre-season training.

Stringer missed the club’s pre-season match against Gold Coast with hamstring tightness and will also miss the opening game of the season.

For Tipungwuti, he returned to the club after a short-lived retirement that saw him hang up the boots last year.

Despite that, Cornes delivered both barrels to the players of a team that many predict will finish in the lower half of the ladder.

Stringer and Tippa torched for being 'out of shape'.

“I’m strong on the fact that Jake Stringer turned up day one of preason unfit and out of shape,” Cornes said before adding “no surprise”.

“It’s no surprise that he has been ruled out for round 1 and has had an interrupted pre-season.

“Tipungwuti is a great story and we hope it goes well, but to me once again the eye would tell you that he looks out of shape.

“And if you are not in shape Brad Scott as a new coach, and Zach Merrett as a new captain, says to those players you’re not eligible for selection until you’re fit.

“Because that’s what Chris Scott would do with Patrick Dangerfield and they win a premiership. It doesn’t matter if it’s mid-season and you do a six-week block of training, until you hit fitness and body shape requirements you’re not eligible for selection.

“They’ve said they’re not in the finals mix, I don’t see why there’s nothing to gain by setting a harder standard at Essendon.”

Bombers legend Matthew Lloyd backed up Cornes’ remarks and said Tipungwuti currently doesn’t look like a “match fit AFL player”.

"He looks out of shape."
"That to me doesn't look like an AFL match fit player."

Does Brad Scott need to take a stand on Bomber stars Jake Stringer & Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti?#9FootyClassified | @Channel9pic.twitter.com/FE3gAqfJfg

— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) March 13, 2023

Stringer has long been touted as an AFL game changer, but has copped criticism throughout his career for failing to deliver on his abilities.

He used that criticism in the second half of the 2022 season to deliver a career-best patch after a 7kg physical transformation.

In a frank chat with his private trainer Jack Kelly, Stringer conceded it was a sacrifice he needed to make to reach greater heights and accept assistant coach Blake Caracella’s challenge to play more midfield time.

“I knew at some stage I was going to come unstuck because I’d done so much running that I hadn’t done before,” Stringer told the How They Train podcast.

“It was always going to happen, but I knew I had to do that to set myself up to get to the place I needed to get to, if that makes sense?

“That’s where my mindset shifted.”

Unfortunately Stringer is back in the gun ahead of the 2023 season with pundits lining up to deliver shots if he once again fails to fire.

The hits are already coming for Stringer. Pic: Michael Klein

Tippa is back. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

McDonald-Tipungwuti, originally from the Tiwi Islands, retired in May last year after only months earlier taking personal leave from the club.

Rumours of a potential comeback surfaced during the Trade Period in October and despite interest from Fremantle, he inked a one-year deal to return to Essendon.

He last played during round 21 in 2021.

McDonald-Tipungwuti made his AFL debut in 2016, coinciding with 34 past and present Bombers receiving season-long suspensions from the club’s controversial supplements saga.

He quickly reached cult figure status, going on to be Essendon’s leading goalkicker in 2020 and kicking 30 or more majors in three separate seasons.

McDonald-Tipungwuti promises to be a significant addition for the Bombers, who struggled to find reliable scoring options behind club champion Peter Wright in 2022.