Chad Cornes looks on during a training session. Image: AFL Photos.<\/p>\n
CHAD Cornes started his once highly unlikely journey at the Port Adelaide Football Club without any fanfare as the teenager quietly slipped into Showdown line-up at Football Park on May 2, 1999. He leaves 26 years later almost in the same way, happily standing in the shadow of Ken Hinkley and Travis Boak.<\/p>\n
Yet, Chad Cornes – for his contribution to the Port Adelaide Football Club – cannot be ignored on Friday night at Adelaide Oval. His part in Port Adelaide’s rise to a premiership power on the field during his 239 AFL games from 1999-2011 and his part in Hinkley’s coaching academy from 2016 merits as much recognition.<\/p>\n
Chad Cornes is, after all, the undying image of that Port Adelaide spirit – particularly in Showdowns – that made him a favourite among the fan base craving heroes true to all of the club’s true traditions.<\/p>\n
“An unbelievable player,” says Port Adelaide chief executive Matthew Richardson. “Most people would have him in the top-five Port Adelaide AFL players of all-time.<\/p>\n
“The growth in Chad as a person and as a coach should leave him proud.”<\/p>\n
Cornes celebrates during his first AFL season in 1999. Image: AFL Photos.<\/p>\n
It began as the No.9 draft call in the 1998 AFL national draft … and with the awkward note that he would have to arrive at Alberton where his father, Graham, had become public enemy No.1 for his antagonism of Port Adelaide as a player, coach and media commentator.<\/p>\n
It ends as the forwards coach in the Port Adelaide home clash with Gold Coast – and in between there has been the indelible Chad Cornes imprint on some of the most significant moments in the club’s AFL story.<\/p>\n
“There are still some people who hold the Cornes name against me in the cheer squad,” says Cornes questioning if he has won over everyone at Alberton. “I still cop it about Graham … and now (younger brother and premiership team-mate) Kane.<\/p>\n
“But the Port Adelaide people have been so good to me from Day 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“My first training session … never been so nervous coming here as Graham Cornes’ son. I did a few fitness tests and somehow I was winning one of them – the applause then from the crowds we would get to watch pre-season training blew me away early.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“From then, the support the fans have given me – that is one of the great things about our club, the passion of the supporters.”<\/p>\n
Chad Cornes is now to join them – and stay a Port Adelaide fan for life.<\/p>\n
“I will always be a Port supporter,” said Cornes.<\/p>\n
Though Cornes finished his playing career at GWS, he remained a Port Adelaide supporter even when he was away. Image: AFL Photos.<\/p>\n
“Even when I was at GWS, Dean Brogan and I would get together and we would be jumping off the couch supporting Port Adelaide back then. It will be the same for me going forward.<\/p>\n
“This club has been so good to me, both as a player and a coach,” Cornes added. “I leave on great terms.<\/p>\n
“It has been one of the best parts of my life this football club. I cannot thank them enough.”<\/p>\n
Chad Cornes leaves Port Adelaide for the second time – after finishing his playing career at Greater Western Sydney in 2013 – with the hope he will be remembered for leaving nothing in the tank.<\/p>\n
“I like to think I tried pretty hard,” he said. “And that I got the best out of myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Despite what people think, I did not have a lot of inner confidence. To play one game was big for me. To string games together – and become a regular player – and then play in a premiership, and be an important part of that, is pretty special.<\/p>\n
“That was all from hard work – and support from coaches Mark Williams and Phil Walsh. They went out of their way to make me a better person and player.<\/p>\n
“As a coach. I would like to think the same thing – I have worked hard and developed some really good relationships with players. Hopefully, I have made them better people and players too.”<\/p>\n
Cornes in action in 2011. Image: AFL Photos.<\/p>\n
THE CALL: Cornes falls out of the coaching panel being assembled by new senior mentor Josh Carr, his 2004 AFL premiership team-mate. He has taken this decision with great understanding of the need for change at Alberton.<\/p>\n
“Josh told me seven weeks ago, before the Brisbane game; that was not a great moment,” Cornes says. “But I felt that coming throughout most of the year. It was disappointing then, but right now I feel really good about it.<\/p>\n
“Not my call, but I feel it is the right call.”<\/p>\n
PORT ADELAIDE: “It has been 24 years, more than half of my life,” said Cornes of the mark the club has left on him. “And it is the people (who make the memories). There are so many who do so much work for little reward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“That is what I will miss most … and seeing players develop. Hopefully, I have played a small part in that development.”<\/p>\n
BOOTS OR WHISTLE: Cornes reflected on the difference in playing and coaching saying: “Coaching was the last thing I thought I would do when I was here as a player. But going to Greater Western Sydney was probably the best thing to happen for me because I was able to get involved in coaching, again with Mark Williams being a big part of that. I found a real passion in working with young players.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It was a genuine dream to come back to Port Adelaide; I was so envious of what was happening here. To coach the SANFL team for two years was unbelievable. I have loved every moment of coaching. It has been a great time.”<\/p>\n
Cornes in 2017 as the club’s SANFL coach. Image: AFL Photos.<\/p>\n
THE REGRET: “Thanks for bringing that up,” says Cornes of the 2017 SANFL grand final loss by one point to Sturt at Adelaide Oval. “Someone reminds me daily. People say they do not have regrets. I regret that day, that build-up. Did I take Sturt too lightly? I definitely was out-coached by Marty Mattner. That is one moment I look back and it still hurts.”<\/p>\n
KEN HINKLEY: Cornes pays tribute to his senior coach saying “he has been amazing for me”.<\/p>\n
“Not only in coaching,” adds Cornes. “He is like a father figure. He always has great advice. That is why he connects with the players so well.”<\/p>\n
TRAVIS BOAK: “You cannot say a bad word of Travis Boak,” Cornes said. “If Travis was here when I first came to the club, he would have made me a much better person. Not as a player, but I would have learned so much from him about being a better person and how to help the young guys more. I would have seen how to invest more in others, something I did not do well enough as a player.<\/p>\n
“Travis is an unbelievable person.”<\/p>\n
THE GREAT PLAYERS: Cornes paid tribute to former key forward Charlie Dixon.<\/p>\n
“I was driving in at 4.30 this morning listening to Phil Collins and getting a bit emotional. I was thinking of the players who had been really special to me – and Charlie is the one who I enjoyed working with the most because of what he was willing to put out there for the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cornes and Travis Boak share a laugh in 2017. Image: AFL Photos.<\/p>\n
“I never coached Robbie Gray in my line. But he is one of my favourite people in the world. Todd Marshall. Sam Powell-Pepper. Mitch Georgiades. Jed McEntee who scraps for everything he gets. There is real pleasure in seeing those guys play well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It is a bit rough to single out five because I really love them all. It is a pretty special group.”<\/p>\n
FUTURE: Cornes expects to step away from coaching next year with prospect of working in the media and fitness spheres while waiting to see “if the passion (for coaching) comes back”.<\/p>\n
“I am proud of how much I have improved,” Cornes said. “Maybe one day (I will return to coaching).”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chad Cornes looks on during a training session. Image: AFL Photos. CHAD Cornes started his once highly unlikely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":["post-84164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}