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Kane Cornes has listed the eight biggest myths that circle the AFL world.
From common-place sayings that exist in local footy through to the big leagues, Cornes has named eight beliefs surrounding the game of football that are simply incorrect.
“Footy myths – that’s rubbish!” Cornes told SEN’s Summer Run.
8. Umpires change their adjudication in finals
“They don’t put the whistle away is a better way to put it. Myth that the umpires don’t put the whistle away in finals.
“We saw that in the grand final. Look at it! I was in Adelaide for a game where they paid about nearly a hundred free kicks.
7. Umpires don’t take notice of the halftime free kick count
“Myth. If you ever hear an umpire or anyone say, ‘no, no, there’s no way the umpires would take note of the free kick count lopsided at halftime’.
“Just coincidentally the free kick count always evens up after halftime. If one team is like 18 to 3 at halftime, you watch the square up in the second half.”
6. Players claiming they don’t consume media
“If you ever hear a player tell you they don’t consume media… ‘nah, I don’t read the papers, I don’t consume…’ myth. Complete myth.
“They will always find out if something has been said about them.
“Whether they deliberately seek to read the paper every morning or not, they will see it and they will consume it and largely they will know what’s been said about them.”
5. Six-day breaks affect performance.
“They don’t. You’ll be fine. You’ll be fine off a six-day break.
“If you ever hear a club complain… you’ll be all right. As a player, you notice no difference between a six or a seven-day break.
“You’ll be okay. Adjust your training, you’ll be fine.”
4. The illicit drugs policy is good for player welfare
“Myth. What a myth that is and if I ever hear that again…
“If you hear that, laugh at it. If any player or AFLPA or the AFL try and tell you that, laugh at them.”
3. Big forwards just need to bring the ball to ground
“You heard that one? ‘He’s doing his job if he brings it to ground’.
“Yep, no worries. You will be out of the team. If all you are doing as a key forward is bringing the ball to ground, you will get dropped.
“No, you need to be marking the ball, contributing and kicking goals. That’s what you need to be doing.
“I hear that all the time. ‘He’s just got to bring the ball to ground’. Oh, yep, alright, that’ll do.
“Anyone can bring the ball to ground.”
2. The harder you go, the less likely you’ll get injured
“Just ask Jonathan Brown or Will Day or George Wardlaw or any of the other freakishly tough units out there.
“They all got injured going hard.”
1. Ice baths are good for recovery
“They’re not. There is zero science-based evidence that ice baths are good for recovery.
“After a game they used to make us sit in the ice bath. The last thing I wanted to do after a game was sit in an ice bath.
“Just leave me to enjoy the win or drown in my sorrows off the loss. Don’t make me sit in an ice bath after a game.
“Same with stretching. Stretching’s a myth. Myth. You don’t need to stretch.
“If that works for you as an individual, go and do it. But the broad brush view that that’s going to work for everyone is a myth. I don’t need to stretch.
“I can go out now and just run and I won’t get injured, I don’t need to stretch.
“So there’s the eight footy myths.”
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