Taylor Walker, Wayne Carey clap back at Kane Cornes as war of words continues

KANE Cornes’ feud with Taylor Walker stole centre stage over the past week, now he’s responded to a Channel 7 star’s accusation.

Taylor Walke responded to heavy criticism with an impressive showing.

ADELAIDE skipper Taylor Walker copped heavy criticism from all angles after a less than flattering performance in round four.

His lowly output was highlighted by one play in particular where he seemed to take his eye off the ball as he looked for contact that never eventuated.

One media personality has never been shy of having his say about the Crows marquee forward and continued his barrage following the game.

Former Port Adelaide player Kane Cornes — since his move into the media side of the game — has continued to divide opinions with his comments and his latest stance surrounding Walker did the same.

Cornes slammed Walker’s inability to be able to stand up like a captain should when his side needed him the most.

“Walker was hardly sighted in the first half of the upset defeat at the hands of Collingwood on Friday night,” Cornes wrote in story for The Advertiser.

“His lack of presence and mediocre effort at ground level in the second quarter was obvious and not conducive to a captain’s game.”

This isn’t the first time Cornes has taken aim at Walker’s leadership as he stated prior to the season getting underway he believed a teammate should have been handed the role.

“My criticism over Tex’s captaincy is that he gets caught up in too much off the ball stuff,” Cornes told SEN’s Time On with Sam McClure.

“Rory Sloane leads by example. When the footy is there to be won, he puts his head over it.

“I’m not saying Taylor Walker is not courageous, but in terms of the way Rory Sloane leads on the field, he’s a better leader.”

Round four wasn’t one Tex will be telling the kids about.

His harsh words following Adelaide’s loss to Collingwood in round four clearly made their way into the eardrums of Walker who responded in brilliant fashion on Friday night as he led his side to a resounding victory.

He kicked four goals, took seven marks and had 16 touches in Adelaide’s win over Sydney and said he didn’t care what his critics thought about him.

“Let’s be honest a few of those people with their opinions you put your head on the pillow at night and have a pretty big giggle at those comments,” Walker told Triple M’s The Saturday Rub.

“The guys that were pretty vocal this week did not worry me one little bit.”

Asked if he was talking about Cornes, Walker didn’t name names but didn’t deny anything either.

“You guys can cross your ‘i’s’ and cross your ‘t’s’, you know who we’re talking about,” he said.

The praise for Walker following the bounce back effort, while not as heavy as the criticism, came in from many pundits.

Former North Melbourne premiership player Wayne Carey was one who threw his support behind the Crows skipper in commentary for Channel 7 on Friday night, but Cornes wasn’t buying what he was selling.

Cornes believed the message being conveyed from Carey was fed through to him and wasn’t an opinion he thought.

Kane: I thought the coverage of Taylor Walker's game and the high praise from Wayne Carey was a bit over the top. I think someone has got in his ear, and said, Tex has been under the pump, would you mind giving him some praise this week.

— SEN 1116 (@SENNews) April 21, 2018

Carey responded by stating he only voices his own opinions and delivered a bit of a whack to Cornes in the process.

“I don’t get seduced by anyone in the media, and/or friends,” Carey said on The Saturday Rub.

“Right now, his vendetta against Tex Walker is not looking very favourable on him, because he got made to look like a fool last night, because Tex Walker played an absolutely brilliant captain’s game.

“He came into the game injured and stood up like a good captain does.

“I actually love the fact that Kane Cornes speaks his mind, but on this particular topic ... he’s a bit of a shock jock.

“Being a shock jock in this industry, as a former player, has a limited time.”

Cornes then responded to Carey’s comments on Sunday morning.

.@KaneCornes has responded to Wayne Carey's comments. #9AFLSFS pic.twitter.com/Gy1r6JgHkO

— Sunday Footy Show (@SunFootyShow) April 22, 2018

“It was strong, and like Wayne said, he’s got strong opinions and I’ve got strong opinions,” Cornes said on the Sunday Footy Show.

“I just thought the commentary in relation to Tex’s game ... was over the top.

“That’s all I was saying. Nothing personal against Wayne. He’s got every right to respond like he did. We’re all big boys. We all cop it. We give it out, we cop it back.”

Fellow panellist Matthew Lloyd asked Cornes for his take on Carey’s suggestion he has a “vendetta” against Walker.

“I think that has got a little bit out of hand, to be honest. As I said, once again, I wasn’t the only one that was critical of Tex last week,” Cornes said.

“It was nothing to do with his form, it with us to do with the effort that he gave and the effort that he gave on Friday night against Sydney was what you would expect from a captain of a big club and well done to him for bouncing back.”

Cornes didn’t back away from his comments with relation to someone — possibly from Adelaide — getting into the ear of Carey.

“I don’t think it was a shock jock comment ... I don’t know for a fact (if someone’s got in his ear). I’d be surprised if someone hasn’t got in his ear, he’s got good connections at the Adelaide footy club.”

Walker and Cornes are hardly best mates.

Cornes and Walker have a rich history of butting heads with none standing out more so than their icy exchange when the Crows forward was being interviewed on the Sunday Footy Show last year.

Walker: Not a big fan of players that come out of the game and don’t have a positive spin on the game because we all love the game of footy.

Cornes: I think you’re angling for a media position at the end of your career, Tex. It’ll be reasonably boring if you’re all just positive and is it fair to say you don’t necessarily see the positive things that are said about you and your club, and you just focus on negative things which all players do when they’re playing?

Walker: Yeah I always look at the positive things, pretty glass half full, Kane. So (I) like to keep it that way.

When asked by Footy Show panellist Nathan Brown if there was any chance of a reconciliation between the two, Walker didn’t give an answer, leading Billy Brownless to emphatically declare: “That’s a no!”

Pushed if he’d consider catching up with Cornes for a coffee, Walker said: “Coffee inside a boxing ring or something is it?”