Cornes family connection to Port Adelaide to disappear for first time in almost 30 years

Much to the displeasure of patriarch Graham, the Cornes name has been synonymous with Port Adelaide for almost three decades. But all that is about to change, and he couldn’t be happier.

For more than 25 years, SA’s first family of football has become synonymous with Port Adelaide – much to the displeasure of patriarch Graham Cornes.

His sons Chad and Kane are Power premiership heroes, playing an incredible 550 AFL matches together during the 2000s, including the 2004 flag.

Their status as Port champions has long been a bone of contention for their father, an SA football legend, Crows inaugural coach and arch enemy of all things Port Adelaide.

In a twist of fate, Graham was left with no choice but to support the club he’d hated his entire life when Chad was drafted by the Power in 1998.

The Cornes clan – Graham and sons Chad and Kane and daughter Amy – in all their Port glory after the Power won the 2004 AFL Grand Final.

Worse was to come just three years later when Kane would join his older brother at Alberton.

While Kane has gone on to forge a career in the media, Chad has remained as an assistant coach at Port for almost a decade.

But a fortnight ago, there was a seismic shift in the football force. Graham’s eldest son was dumped by incoming head coach Josh Carr, as part of a reshuffle to the club’s coaching staff for 2026.

So at the end of this season, for the first time this century, no one in the Cornes’ household will be officially aligned with Port Adelaide.

Could this lead to cracks, or even a chasm, in the family’s ongoing allegiance to the Power?

For Graham, the answer is crystal clear.

“The gloves are off,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.

“The soft spot will be gone. It’s now open slather.”

Kane and Chad Cornes holding the Premiership Cup on the MCG after Grand Final victory.

In a column for The Advertiser last week, the Glenelg premiership player and coach gleefully declared that the “ceasefire” with Port Adelaide was over.

“Thankfully, with one son gone from Alberton and the other’s tenure coming to an end when the season finishes, we won’t have any reason to wish Port Adelaide well,” he wrote.

“A huge weight has been lifted.”

Yet Graham said it’s difficult to see his sons following suit, given their rich history with the club.

“Look at their careers at Port, they won’t dismiss that. It’s an important part of their story,” he said.

But there have been serious rumblings in the last week.

Kane, now an outspoken footy analyst with Channel 7, SEN radio and AFL.com.au, openly questioned Port Adelaide’s future under his old premiership teammate Carr.

“I may be wrong but I don’t see the future being that bright under Josh Carr,” he said on his regular First Up show on afl.com.au.

Graham had to maintain some sort of allegiance to Port, through gritted teeth, while Chad was an assistant coach.

“They don’t have their first pick this year, which is a disaster when you don’t make finals.”

Kane also queried the Power’s lack of potency in attack.

“I’m not sure that’s a forward line that’s going to get you that excited,” he said.

Given Kane’s loyalty to his older brother, and his much-loved former coach Ken Hinkley, could this be the start of a subtle shift away from Alberton?

As much as he’d like to see it, Graham is adamant this won’t be the case.

“I saw the comments and I thought it was a rational analysis of where he thinks Port Adelaide is at the moment. It wasn’t directed at Josh Carr,” he said.

“I didn’t disagree with him and there was no nastiness about it. It wasn’t at all personal.”

Graham fondly remembers a time when his sons were mad Crows fans.

In the early 90s, as the beloved figure in charge of the state’s (then) only AFL club, his young sons were passionate supporters of the red, blue and gold.

Chad Cornes won’t be at Port next year after his contract wasn’t renewed as part of a coaching overhaul with the exit of Ken Hinkley. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

That all ended when Graham was unceremoniously axed by the Crows in 1994, just 12 months after leading the team to a preliminary final. It was a decision his boys took personally.

“Chad and Kane barracked for the Crows, then I got sacked … then they got drafted. Now they’re Port Adelaide through and through,” he said.

When Chad’s name was called out by the Power at the 1998 AFL national draft, even Graham could appreciate the irony.

“It was so amusing when Chad got drafted and then when Kane got drafted, everyone else could see the funny side of it,” he said.

“The most important thing is they both stayed in Adelaide and played with the same team. So there was a silver lining to the dark cloud which hovered over us.”

Graham Cornes wouldn’t have been caught dead in Port Adelaide change rooms – until both his sons were drafted to the Power.

It wasn’t easy for Graham, who’d endured many battles with the black-and-white powerhouse over decades as a Glenelg Tigers player and coach.

There were sometimes violent, venomous confrontations on the field, and bruising encounters off it, in particular as Port Adelaide tried to join the AFL in 1990, nearly fracturing the local league.

But Graham put that aside for his family – something he won’t have to do any longer.

“Reluctantly, I was hoping they’d win, and hoping the boys would play well. Now when Chad’s finished, I’m pretty sure the soft spot I have for them will be gone,” he said.

“So that’s the weight that’s been lifted. I don’t have to barrack for them anymore.”

Originally published as Cornes family connection to Port Adelaide to disappear for first time in almost 30 years